The Moonlit Spy
by Kellybug
Summary: Alex gets thrown into a whole new wold! She thought LIFE was hard?
1. Chapter 1

The Moonlit Spy

A bit of a cross-over, but "Totally-Spies" haracters will take up over 3/4 (I think) ofthe storyline.

A story for Hallowe'en that has been haunting my brain :) I am hoping this story will be finished by Hallowe'en! If not, by New Years 2014, then.

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlit

Disclaimers:

"Totally Spies" is not mine! And? Never will be mine! It belongs to the French (I think?) Animation Company MARATHON!

"Moonlight" and its characters belong its creators, Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson, and Warber Brothers Television.

I hope I can, at least, claim credit - good or bad - for the story-idea :)

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlit

Alexandra de la Vega awoke to a pain she could only describe as a baseball bat slamming into her temples and a terrible - hunger - that seemed to spread from her stomache into every cell of her body! As she opened her to try to scan and recognize her enviroment, the young brunette spy tried to remember the last place she had been. But, all she could remember were hands, arms, and knees pressing into her, keeping her down and imobilizing her! That - and the feeling of razors and pins slashing and pricking her shoulders and neck.

And, she remembered the laughter, that malicious, taunting laughter that resounded mercilesssly in her head like some demonic echo-chamber,  
slowly driving her mad!

As she tried to focus her eyes more, Alex looked around. No, her sense of touch was not lying to her She was not lying on dirt and grass, or ever asphalt, whereshe last remembered being. She seemed to be on a leather couch,  
in an .. office? Or, someones house?

It was WOOHP-HQ, that she was certain of! For one thing, it was too dark,  
ever when she compared it to Jerry's office. And? It smelled of wood! It was,  
actually, rather nice, even if it was a bit chilly.

"Wait a minute!" Alex thought out loud. "it I'm not at WOOHP, then where am I?"

Alex then tried to rise in a sitting-position, then felt herself being forced back down by a pounding headache and sudden dizziness, and a strange overall weakness! "Damned vertigo!", she half-whispered, and help whimpered.

And, there was that hunger. Again. Even stronger than before! much more savage. Almost primal, it tore away at drowned-out any and every rational thought!

So, Alex laid backon the couch,closed her eyes, and tried to sort through the jig-saw images of her swiss-cheese memory.

Alex, along with her friends Samantha Simpson and Clover Benoir, were the field-agents chosen by WOOPH - the World Organization of Human Protection -  
to investigate a string of strange disappearances and murders in the L.A. basin and surruonding hills. It was the first night of the investigation, when the trio happened upon a disturbance!

At first glance, it was just taken for some bizarre sex-or drug-party, causing Clover to remark about "Voyuers", and causing Sam to blush ferociously! However, a man's scream sent the girls running - straight into a macabre feeding-  
frenzy!

What happened next, after Alex lost track of Sam and Clover, was turning into a red-tinged blur, punctuated only by the needles and razors she felt in her neck,  
the malicious laughter, and her own screams!

A then, her world - the noise, the pain, the confusion, the fear, the rage -  
faded into nothingness. Except for one quote, which still haunted the girl:

"Arnulfo, mi fratello! Do you think that she will become one of us?"

"Now, howecer, the more Maria Alejandra de la Vega tried toremember of that night,  
the more the pain returned to her head and body! And, the more the pain returned -  
the more the hunger followed!

Then, Alex' eyes shot open! What was that strange smell? It was an oddly -  
delicious - smell. And, it was something her body absolutely DEMANDED!

It was then, also, that Alex registered four voices in the room: two male, and two female!

"She's waking up", one of the females said, in an Irish lilt.

"She'll be wanting to feed." A male voice answered.

"'Wanting'?" The other male voice answered.  
"That's an understatement, Josef", the second female answered.

"BETH?" The first male voice asked. "What are YOU doing here?"

"I HAD to come Josef!" The second female answered. "She HAS to have something to focus on!"

"Yeah, like her first meal!" the voice called Josef scoffed.

"You're not helping matters, Josef!" The second male sighed. "Beth? She could be dangerous?"

"Another understatement, Mick." Josef responded.

"I'm thinkin' she knows that, gentlemen!" The Irish-lilt said softly.

Alex peered over the couch. She saw two men standing defensively in front of her, and a young woman in-between and just in back of them, forming a rough triangle.  
Something inside Alex told her that the young woman was the delicious something she had smelled!

Suddenly, Alex sprang over the couch, zeroing in on the young woman! And, the two men with the young woman moved toward Alex!

"Beth! Watch out!" Mick cried out. "She's.."

"Not going to do anything, Michael !" The Irish lilt sang out. "Except turn around - and face me. Maria Alejandrea Catalina de la Vega y Montoya! There will be no feeding, tonight! Turn - and face me!"

Even though her body was running on hunger, there was something in the timber of the one woman's voice - a certain seductiveness, yet with a hint of command - that bade Alex turn around and meet her challange!

"You!" Alex seemed to rasp out in a soft, yet unearthly razor-sharp voice. "You would stop me from feeding?"

"I am only stoppin' ye, Maria Alejandrea Catalina de la Vega y Montoya, frae doon what, I ken, will be hauntin' ye the rest o' yuir days." The brunette said in that same seductive lilt as before as she swayed to Alex. "An, that, my Alex Dhu, will be a VERRA long time."

"And, what do you know of me, Mandy?" Alex asked, any self-assurence quickly evaporating.

"I know ye for the most-caring person I've ever had the honor of meeting, Alejandrea de la Vega, in all me long and lonely life." Mandy whispered. "And? I pray you'll be forgiving me of this."

And, that was the last thing Alex remembered, as - once again - she felt pressure like needles puncturing her neck. And, then, again, her world went black!

The next time Alex awoke, she lay on a soft bed, on top of when felt like cool, crisp linens. And, as Alex looked up, she saw Mandy, a rough-leap away, maybe about ten feet from the bed.

Alex then leaped to her feet, or tried to, sensing Mandy as a threat! However, the young woman was groggier than she had been the first time she awoke!

Mandy tried not to laugh, for the seriousness of the situation, as she remembered that -  
when she was alive - Alex could become a bit of a wildcat when aggetated.

"Calm doon, Maria Alejandrea Catalina de la Vega y Montoya!", Mandy whispered in that strange, sensual, yet hypnotic lilt. "I'm not here to harm ye, I am only being here to help.  
I have something for ye! A peace offering it is."

Alex' defensiveness, once more, gave way, to the siren-call of Mandy's voice. It was a tone Alex was sure she had never heard the young woman use, before! Gone was the harsh accent, with a touch of the northeastern-U.S. in it.

As Alex' body eased it tensions, Mandy slowly stepped in and caressed her face and neck.  
Then, she handed Alex a red packet.

"Here ye go, my wee lass!" Mandy smiled. "This should be quietin' yuir beast, 'til ye've learned to control it! Before it controls you. A gift frae Miss Beth!"

After finishing her first pint of blood rather quickly and without questions, Alex looked around at the small group gathering around she and Amanda. It was the same trio that waswith she and Mandy the previous day. Trying to piece together her jigsawed-memory, again,  
she turned to Mandy:

"How long have I been out?"

"For all of six days an' six nights, Alex!" Mandy answered. "Includin' the three days and three nights it's been since I had to bite ye, again!"

Alex flinched at the mentioning of being bitten.

"It's sorry I am for have to bite ye, again, Alex, darlin'," Mandy apoligized, smiling sympathically, "but, we canna be havin' a new-fledged vampire runnin' amok in the City of Angels, now, can we?"

"Vammmmmmmmmmmmpiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrre?"Alex tried to get her tongue around the word as she stared, eyed-died in disbelief, at Mandy.

The young woman then grinned at Alex, showing her fangs to Alex to assure the young spy that she was - indeed - telling the truth!

"I'm.. dead?" Alex bleated,a tinge of fear in her voice and tears forming in her eyes.

"Technically, yes," Mandy nodded, "dead an' buried! Or, rather? T'be buried until the Assistant-Coroner for L. , who happens t' be one of us, pulled ye aside in the Morgue! He recognized the wounds for what they were, an' called Mick an'Josef t' t'come f'r ye! Figured he did t'save ye th' energies it's take to be diggin' ye oot o' yiur coffin an' grave. Smart man he is! And, since the body - you - were from the Hills? And, frae the school I went to? I was called in by Mick t' identify you if possible! And? As soon as I saw ye, I knew what I had to do!"

"What's in the coffin?" Beth whispered to Mick.

"A VERY 'life-like' manniquin." Mick whispered back.

Alex looked deeply into Mandy's suprizingly-sympathetic eyes.

"I am sorry, my Alex!" Mandy softly said. This should never have happened!"

"Mommy.." Alex whimpered. "Sammi.. Cloverrrr..Jerry.." Then, she sniffed. "Good bye. I'll miss you guys."

Teary-eyes then looked up at Mandy. "What.. do I do, now?"

And, Mandy's arms wrapped protectively around Alex. "Ye grieve, for a while, about what was lost. What could've been. Then, ye learn t' live, again, as best ye can." Mandy said, a genuine smile on her face. "But? Ye dinna have ta go an' learn alone, my Alex Dhu! When I bit ye that second time, it was because ! had already known ye the longest of anyone here!  
I willingly took on the role an' responsibility of Mater! As I said, L.A. doesna need a new-fledged Vampire running' amok! Whatever happens, whatever the future holds, we'll be facing it, t'gether!"

So? For the next two weeks, Alex de la Vega did nothing more than read and study vampire-  
lore and history! And, try to piece together the crazy jigsaw-puzzle that was her memory of her last night of life. And she worried.

In her time as a spy for WOOPH, Alejandra de la Vega had also learned a bit of the arts of investigation. And, to Alex, something just wasn't adding up!

And, in the back of her mind, she stayed haunted by that one quote:

"Do you think that she will become one of us?"

Whoever came after her, Alex had a sickening thought, was probably not done with her quite yet. What she was beginning to remember clearing of that night had "trap" written all over it!  
And, if they were allowed to turn her into one of "them" - an unsupervised-"them" at that - what were their plans for her?

That last night night of seclusion, Alex decided to find out about her Mater:

"Mandy?" Alex asked as they were playing chess, "Who are you? I mean, you've turned into a wonderful friend since this mess started! But, like, who are you? I get the feeling you've never let anyone get to know the real you."

"Ye've caught me, gumshoe!" Mandy smiled as she finished her move. "My name is Amanda Maria Aine O'Dubhda, and I was born in Connaught in August of 1373 Anno Domini."

Mandy then lost her smile, as a fear took hold of her voice and face. "And? I was killed- turned by a hideous devil- in a cold December of 1390! Turned by an old knight, givin' by his squire! I stayed enslaved to the bastard for 400 years! Och, the horrors I saw, and the horrors I did, for themselves! But, I finally stowed away, about 1750, bound for the Americas! I damned-near starved m'self on the way here.. or, would have, had not two young girls of the O'Dubhda, my clan, hadna made the voyage with me! I survived on tiny bits o' bleed from them, and an occasional hog. For eight months, we lived like that. For, I vowed I'd never turn another! Then? After settlin' doon, we'd have t' move again, every decade or two, when someone would notice I didna age! We'd try o stay to the frontier, 'til there was nae frontier to escape to! And, always? There would be one of two of the family Dubhda who would be comin' with me. By choice."

A smile came to Alex' lips. "And, Dominique and Caitlyn?"

"Cousins, many times over." Mandy grinned. "The 12th generation of the branches of O'Dubhda on these shores, they are!"

"Well?" Alex smiled and kissed Mandy's hand. "You need run no more, Amanda Marie Aine O'Dubhda!"

Alex then leaned in closer, giving Amanda a gentle kiss.

"Thank you..for caring. my Alex Dhu"

In the two weeks of seclusion and study, Alex had gotten to know Michael , the World War II Veteran - turned - Vampire - turned - Private Investigator, and Josef Kostan, Vampiric-Entrepenuer, and Beth Turner, Internet-Reporter and resident - "damsel-in-distress" of Los Angeles' vampiric-community.

To say Beth intrigued Alex would have been an understatemnt!

"Does she always put her life in danger like that?" Alex asked Josef the next evening. "Like with me?"

"Pretty much!" Josef answered. "Alot. Too often. Mick saved her life 22 years ago, when she was a child. From another vampire. And? He managed to keep tabs on her ever since! And, recently, she and Mick managed to find each other, again. and? She's been in our lives, since! She's been the eyes and ears of most of us to the outside-world! Because of who we are, and what we are, we tend to be an insular-society. Secretive."

"I understand." Alex responded, closing her eyes as she thought about what Josef had said. "So!  
Mick was a Soldier? And an investigator? Sounds like he still is!"

"Part and parcel of being a vampire, I'm afraid!" Josef half-chuckled, and half-sighed. "Something about our former-lives, that keeps us bound to the earth. Most of us - including me - just accept it! But? It does seem a bit stange at times. Why the interest? Is it just being a fledgling?"

"Not really!" Alex admitted. "When I was alive, I was - believe or not - a spy! And, as such? I learned to be a bit of a detective. Probably, not as good a one as Mick. But? Still a detective! Although, I tried my hardest at times to stay a kid! And? I guess that part of my past will refuse to die."

The following evening, a meeting was held in Mandy's house, with Mick, Josef, and Beth.

"I just wished I knew who.. 'turned' me, as you call it, Mandy.. and, then, just left me in the street, alone!" Alex pondered. "I mean, from what I've read, and what you all have told me, turning someone is, like, a major operation! Mixed in with alot of luck. I mean, why not just drain me, and leave me for dead? I'm pretty sure there was at least two of them involved, from the conversation I seem to remember! Why not share a meal and be done with me? it's not like they were interrupted by anyone! No one was there to break up the fight!"

Alex lost herself in memory, momentarily:

"In fact, all I am SURE I remember before dying is that.. two? of.. whoever they were.. were attacking. And? At least one of them spoke in... Italian? With a Argentine-accent. Buenos Aires,  
I think? The sound was DEFINITELY more South American than European, but VERY what did he call his partner? Arnaldo? Armulfo?"

"Arnulfo?" Josef's eyes suddenly shot-up, quite red.

"I think so." Alex replied.

"From South America?" Josef continued.

"Yes, the accent was DEFINITELY Argentine! Buenos Aires. No Pampas or Patagonia in it!" Alex answered. "My friends and I went down to Buenos Aires for..."

"The Carlosi Brothers!" Josef swore.

"You know these guys, Josef?" Mick asked.

"Only by reputation," Josef answered, "one bad enough to make me avoid South America south of Rio de Janiero! It's said Arnulfo and Giovanni Carlosi left Napels for South America 400 years ago, when much of it was still Spanish territory. It's been said they rule over everthing South of the Rio de la Playa, and have extended their reach all the way to Sao Paolo! But, why would they show up, here? They've never left South America since landing there!"

"Oh, my god!" Alex whispered. "My friends, Sam and Clover, and I! We were down in Buenos Aires, 6 months ago, investigating reports of an ex-WOOHP-agent! Could that have brought the Carlonis here?"

"It could have! You may have broken-in on one of their deals!" Mick replied. "I find it a bit disconcerting that you were a spy, Alex. Anyway! Who was the ex-agent you were after?"

"A man by the name of Tim Scam!" Alex answered. "And? Believe me, Mr. ! There were times I wondered what in the hell I was doing as a spy, myself!"

At the mention of Tim Scam's name, Mandy O'Dubhda, began to tremble, and shake. Then, she wailed like a banshee-born!

"DAMMIT! They found me! They tracked me doon! I'm damned! I'm damned! I'm.. damned.."

Automatically, Alex and Beth moved in to try and comfort the grieving vampire.

"The Squire has come.. and, the Red Knight will follow.. like the hound and his Master..  
He's here.. he's here.."

"Who's come, Mandy?" Alex asked, cradling her Mater.

"The one who gave me to be turned.. The Black Squire of the Red Kight.. Timon of Scandia!"

"Timon of Scandia...", Alex pondered, "The name is very close. And, many times, an alias can be close enough to a real-name to almost figure it out! That seemed to be a favorite game of Scam's. A stange kind of 'Catch-me-if-you-can'. Could you recognize him in a picture, Mandy?"

"Aye." Mandy said shakily. "i could."

"Good." Alex grinned. "Since vampires don't age that much, if Tim is Timon, he should still look much like he did 600 years ago. Anyone have any paper?"

Soon, Alex was drawing out the face of Tim Scam. In 30 minutes of careful drawing, Alex presented the picture - front and profiles - to Amanda O'Dubhda.

"Is this the Black Squire?" Alex asked in a soft voice.

Mandy looked at the drawing, and shrieked as one who just lost her soul as she nodded!

Alex held on protectively to Mandy. And, fished a photo from her pocket, of happier days, and handed it to Beth:

"When I was alive, Beth? Samantha Simpson and Clover Benoir were my beth friends, next to my mom. Watch out for them whenever I can't, okay? I know them, and, they'll be wanting answers as to why I was killed. And? They won't rest until they get their answers. Or? Until their answers get them! That's just how they are. How we were. And, I'm afraid. Whoever brought the Carleones to turn me, isn't though, yet!"


	2. Chapter 2

The Moonlit Spy

(A Totally Spies-Moonlight crossover)

Chapter 2:

A story for Hallowe'en that has been haunting my brain :) I am hoping this story will be finished by Hallowe'en! If not, by New Years 2014, then.

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlit

Disclaimers:

"Totally Spies" is not mine! And? Never will be mine! It belongs to the French (I think?) Animation Company MARATHON!

"Moonlight" and its characters belong its creators, Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson, and Warber Brothers Television.

I hope I can, at least, claim credit - good or bad - for the story-idea :)

I do not own the followingn television sereies: MOONLIGHT (Warner Brothers does - the commissioned the sereies) or HIGH CHAPPEREL!

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlit

After a month, Alex was back investigating the circumstances surrounding her death. To say that something didn't feel "quite right" would have been a serious- understatement! Althugh she was sure Timon of Scandia, alias "Tim Scam", was involved with the Carlosis, and bringing them up from the Argentine, Alex was also fairly sure that was not the only reason that she and her friends were lead to a scene that - looking back - had "set-up" written all over it!

Why, Alex wondered after her memories started coming back, had she, Samantha, and Clover been the only agents assigned to that case? Usually, back-up would have been assigned!

Usually.

Alex had a hard-enough time finding clues, outright. That, however, was no real surprise. She chuckled lightly. It had, after all, been a month since the attack. And?  
The Cleaners had done their jobs of removing any overt-signs of Vampiric-carnage well!  
Although, even Alex - as inexperienced as she might have been - could still smell traces of blood that was fresher than when she was killed.

Mick, Josef, and Mandy had explained the Cleaners and their role to Alex before she had started her hunt for answers. So? Alex knew she would have to search deep inside of herself to find the tools to aide in picking up clues from that particular late-night orgy.

Fortunately, even before she had become a spy, Alex's father and grandfather had taught her how to hunt and track, and she had had to backtrack herself a few times when lost! So? Alex just put her tracking-skills to use with her now-sharpened vampiric senses!

Besides the investigating, Alex had fallen back on her skills of serveillence and spying, keeping eyes and eras open, whenever and wherever possible, for Samantha and Clover.

Samantha Simpson and Clover Benoir had - changed - in the month since their best friend's death. And? From what Beth had reported seeing, and what Mandy had relayed from talking to Caitlyn and Monique, Alex did not like the changes:

"They're losing themselve to grief. They're becoming obsessed. They're going to get themselves killed!" She whispered. "Or, worse!"

Gradually, Alex began to recognize her surroundings. She, then, took a deep, long, sniff, closing her eyes. "Yep. This is where is happened. No bleach, here! Guess the Cleaners didn't find any excess-blood, here? That's frightening me! They planned this out, damn the Carlosis! This was a surgical strike!"

Thankfully - for a reason known only to himself - the Assistant M.E. had kept the clothes that Alex had been found in the night she was killed. At least, Alex now knew what her morrtal form - and it's blood - had smelled like. She had to stifle a sudden urge to laugh. Technically, if would be hard to prove a murder had been commited, especially since the corpse was walking around L.A.! But? Justice, for the night-time crowd, always seemed to be an in-house affair. Vampires looked out for their own. They always had. And, Alex knew, she always would!

Soon, Alex was picking up two more scents. These were masculine - though, not human - and, although destinct, they seemed to be related! Possibly Arnulfo and Giovanni?

Alex fingered the blades she now wore in scabbards on each hip. They were ancient Demascan steel, and - yet - as sharp as any Japanese Katana! Perfect for subtracting a vampire from its head! They were on loan from Caitlyn and Dominique - until, they said, they could have swords made for Alex.

Or? Until Alex could get her hands on her great-grandfather's sword? The weapon,  
she had been told by her father - and his father - was very old, possibly, Medieval,  
but? It was in museum-condition!

"I just hope I can get to it without setting-off any alarms.. and, scaring mom to death!" Alex mumbled. "That's JUST what I need on my conscience for all eternity!"

Soon, Alex' trail of the Carlosi Brothers ran cold. At least, along the ground.

"OK." Alex pondered. "The trail seems to begin in this alley. So? They probably came from the tops of these buildings, somehow! These things don't have side-doors to this alley. Or, many windows. Well? Now that I know where the trail begins, I might as well check where it ended, again!"

As Alex made her way back to the murder-scene, she caught the scent of mortal-blood,  
and her ears heard two familiar voices.

"Oh, my god..", she whispered, "please! Don't let them see me!"

Alex de la Vega then, as silently as she could, slipped into the darkest shadow she could find. And, stayed there!

"What are we looking for, again, Sammie?" Clover whined-out. For what was, the vampire judged by the redhead's reaction, probably the hundredth time that night.

"I don't KNOW, Clover!" Sam tried not to bite the blonde's head off. "Something that MIGHT lead us to a murder-weapon would be nice!"

Alex chuckled lightly, in spite of herself. Clover's and Sam's arguments had always scared her a bit when she was alive. But? The fights that followed had been a bit comical! Especially, as they meant that the friendship they had between them was still strong.

"What a terrible way to go!" Clover whimpered. "Poor Alex. So painful. Such a sweet girl. And, like, who used razors and needles? Creepy, much?"

"And to the neck and shoulders!" Sam sighed. "Beyond 'creepy'! Way beyond."

From where she stood, as still as a statue, Alex felt a tear trickle down her cheek.  
She felt a almost-overwelming urge to run over, crush her two friends in a hug, and reassure them that she was alright! Or, as alright as a vampire could be. But? That could not be, could never be, and so - through sheer will - Alex just stood there, watching silently. And made a vow to be there to protect Sam and Clover, for as long as they lived, and by whatever means possible.

"Wait! Sammie?" Clover exclaimed. "I found some more blood, I think. Just a few drops.  
Seems too fresh to have been Alex'! But? Maybe it can help can help us figure out what's going on here!"

'Blood? Damn!' Alex thought to herself. 'This is becoming the Carlosi's Dining-room!'

"Blood?" Samantha turned around. "Hold up, Clover! Let me take a picture of the scene,  
then you can bag and tag the specimen!" With a couple of rulers, and two of three clicks a mini-cam, Sam noted the location. "OK, now, Clover! Bag it and time it! And, we'll see how well WOOHP can alylize this stuff!"

At hearing the redhead mention WOOHP, Alex felt a chill run up her spine to her brain!  
For some reason, her intuition - which she suddenly wished she had listened to all those nights ago - was screaming at her! She, suddenly, felt that WOOHP was the absolute-last place that EITHER Sam or Clover should go!

"Well, Clover?" Samantha said. "I think we've found all we'll find, here! We better call it a night before our moms get too worried. We'll have this anylized, first thing, tomorrow!"

Alex breathed a small sigh of relief. As much as she wanted to pay-back the Carlosi Brothers for introducing her to Hell, the young vampire did not want to use her friends as bait!

Then, as Alex played rear-guard to Sam and Clover's retreat, she spied a shadowy figure on the roof of a building.

A Carlosi?

Alex took a sniff.

A Carlosi.. DAMN HIM to whatever Circle of Hell befitted him!

A couple of hours before sunrise, Alex and Amanda were discussing the investigation.

"I cannot BELIEVE how close I was to losing my friends, earlier!" Alex hissed, her eyes glowing red. "No. Scratch that. I can believe it." She calmed down and said dejectedly, "I just didn't want to! I still don't want to. Even without the threat of vampires, you have to be careful at night! And, Sammie and Clover were being everything BUT careful!"

"I can understand their feelings, love!" Amanda smiled.. then, quickly frowned. "Are ye SURE about the Carlosis still being in town?"

"I caught their scents from where they killed me to where they first started." Alex answered. "And I ,later, sniffed it in the air where we were. The Carlosis are DEFINITELY still in town! And, still making that spot their picnic-area. I'm going to have to shadow the girls, more. Which means, I'm going to have to borrow the swords, again. I'm going to owe Caitlyn and Dominique, big time!"

"They will not mind of the borrowin'!" Amanda grinned. "They've been around Samantha and Clover for almost as long as yuirself has! Themselves have learned the ways of the two lasses!" Amanda cooed.

"C'mon, Mandy!" Alex whined. "They're not THAT bad!"

Amanda looked askence at Alex.

"Well?" Alex giggled helplessly. "Maybe they are?"

"Ye can always bite them?" Amanda suggested.

"WHAT?" Alex shrieked. "Turn them into vampires?"

"Nothing as drastic as that, Alex-Darlin'!" Amanda ressured her with a touch and smile. "just something I had t' learn when dealin' with my kin. To TRY to keep them out of mischief. It takes less blood-loss and less saliva t' control a person than it does t' turn them. Ye only need a taste of blood - a spoonful or two - t' imprint someone's scent on you, and, a wee lick or kiss into a bite t' have them t' follow your commands!"

"Well..", Alex pondered what Amanda suggested. "I may hve to do that. But, I don't want to. Because, it'll mean giving my existance away. And yours, and everyone else'!  
And? I'm learning why you need to be so secretive. However, I may have to if they get WOOHP involved much. When I overheard Samantha mention going to test the evidence she and Clover found in the WOOHP labs, I got a bad feeling. I mean, Timon was a WOOHP-  
spy at one time."

Amanda shivered at the mention of the old vampire, then took a sip of blood to calm herself. "You'd be right to be trusting of yuir instincts, Alex!" She warned her friend.

The next evening, her frame wrapped in a formless, billowy shroud, Alex watched from a ledge as Sam and Clover came back to the crime-scene. at her sides were two silver swords and a long tree-branch, sharpened into a stake! As her friends searched for clues, she searched for hungry vampires!

"Got any clues from the evidence we found last night?" Clover asked Samantha.

"Some." The redhead answered. "Only enough to make me wonder about this case. None of the blood we found was Alex', according to the WOOHP data-base. Not even the dried flakes we found."

"Big surprise, there. Right?" The blonde responded.

"True." The redhead replied. "I mean, We are looking into a case that's more than a month old! Would have been nice to find something of Alex here, though. But, that fresher blood you found did start a few questions to come up. The police just always thought of this place as just a body-dump."

"Because of the lack of blood?" Clover asked.

"Yes." Sam said. "But, like, you know the creepiest-part about it is? WOOHP found saliva mixed in with all the blood we found! Even the dried blood!"

"Saliva?" Clover winced. "Oh, YUCK! But, I guess the smell of blood WOULD call the scavengers! And.. like.. with all the rats and strays around here..."

"That's.. Where it get bizzare, Clover!" Sam replied. "None of the saliva came from any known-source! Class, Genus, or species."

"WHAT?" Clover hit the high-notes, then dropped to a whisper. "But, like? That's.. impossible! Isn't it?"

"I used to think so, Clover." Sam said hoarsly, looking around. "These buildings are too big and close together! Let's get back under some more lights."  
old.

Spotting a figure on an opposite roof, Alex collected her weapons and leaped silently down to the ground, within easy sprinting-distance to Clover and Sam!

"I am afraid you will not be going anywhere, bambinae!" A heavy South American accent whispered. "Not in this life. come. Join us."

As Clover and Sam froze in fear at the heavy male whisper, another whisper, feminine but sharp, seemed to echo though the square:

"There will be no blood-feast, tonight, Carlosi. Leave.. or die. Permanently."

The male figure chuckled evilly. "So! You claim these morsels, little one? Maybe, we can share? I KNOW you, Signorite! Mi frater and I.. we MADE you.. you are just like us. Just as we lusted for! Give thanks to Il Graeco, La Scandiani."

"You may have turned me," Alex asnwered the lusty bat as they circled each other, as she leaned on a staff, "but? I am not like you, or your brother. Nor, will I ever be like you!"

"Of that? We shall see, Indio." The vampire chuckled, removing his hood. "We shall.. see..."

An unearthly, demonic light shon out from old vampiric eyes. And, Alex screamed like banshee as those eyes burned into her mind!

"Bare your neck, bare your body, bambina.. yield to me the fruits of the whore. Then, KILL YOUR SISTER! FEAST on her BLOOD!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alex screamed, then charged at the Carlosi, revealing her staff to be a stake! The stake pierced the vampire through to heart, then Alex plunged the stake-point into the ground about a foot deep!

Alex then shuck violently, as the old bat lay parylized against the ground. Fighting to get Carlosi's hypnosis out of her head, she fought to desperately remember her promise to herself.

"And, Arnulfo. You can thank The Greek the next time you see him," Alex growled out slowly, "when I send him to Hell!"

Then, she grabbed the swords from their scabbards, and swung them downward in perfect arcs against either side of the vampire's neck, severing the head clean from the body!

Alex gulped in air. The deed was done. Arnulfo Carlosi was truly dead. Or, would be, as soon as she incinerated the body and head! But? His last legacy - his cursed-command to the young vampire - seemed to live on: The fight for her mind and what was left of her soul - before she had repaid the old bat - had taken its toll. She needed nourishment, and the smell of fresh blood was overwhelming her knowledge that she had packets of blood on her body just in case something like this would happen!

"Thank you..?" Alex heard Sam's weakened voice.

"Run." Alex whispered, keeping her back turned. "Run for your lives. It's not safe here. Not with me."

"Excuse me?!" Clover snapped out. "My friend was trying to thank you?!"

"And I'm still trying to save you!" Alex whispered as she suddenly fell to her knees, fighting her hunger. "How can I save you, when I'm feasting on you?!"

Sam suddenly thought she recognized the whisper:

"A.. A.. Alex?"

Suddenly, Alexandra de la Vega sprang upright and whirled around, the shroud around her pirouetting around her! She beared her fangs, red eyes burning into Samantha and Clover:

"RUN!" She screamed. "Run as far and as fast as you CAN!"

And, Sam and Clover ran!

As she watched them vanish into the night, Alex leaned against Sam's car, and drank her two packets of blood. Then, she looked at the car, at smiled at the keys left in the ignition:

"Thank you, girlfriend, for leaving me the keys to Arnulfo Carlosi's crematorium! I just have to pack it!"

An hour later, after packing Carlosi's severed-head and staked-body - seperately, and extra gas and a couple of drums of oil and grease, Alex lit some twisted bedding she had stuffed in the gastank for a fuse, and jogged a safe-distance away from the car. Then, she waited.

BOOM!

Later, in to hours before dawn, Alex shook violently and cried into Amanda:

"It was.. terrible.. Mandy! Terrible! The thoughts that Arnulfo.. forced.. into me! The hunger I felt. Even with my preparing for the worst. Oh, god!"

Amanda took Alex in her arms, caressing her, took her to her breasts, and rocked her slowly.  
As she softly sang the centuries-old cradle-songs she remembered her mother singing to her,  
Amanda rembered similar terrors brought by her vampiric tormentors.

"At least, one of the Devils-of-the-Argentine is dead, m' Alex Dhu! And, sure and Samantha and Clover are safe!"

"At was a near-thing, Mandy," Alex trembled. "and my black-beast almost won! What's worse?  
Sammie guessed who I was. So? I can guess where she and Clover will be, tomorrow night!"

"Are ye sure, Alejandra?" Amanda lightly held to a slightly-trembling Alex.

"Aye. I'm sure." Alex answered. "Even with my demonic-side popping out, Sam saw through it.  
And? Once Sammie latches on to something, she doesn't let go until she finds her answers! She's a pitbull, that way."

"Like someone else I know!" Amanda giggled. "Come, now, Alex! The eastern sky is brightening.  
The sun will be up in about two hours time. It's best off to bed! Fortunately, ye have yuir home-sod t' comfort ye!"

"Coming, 'Mother'!" Alex giggled, taking one last look at the fast-approaching dawn. It was beautiful. Just, she was learning, like Amanda!

The next evening, Alex stood in the shadows of the trees of the cemetery she would've been buried in, had not the good vampires of Los Angeles not seen to it her body was removed from the casket after her funeral.  
'I wonder what would have happened,' She thought, 'if I'd've been left in my coffin. Probably would've woke up starving, and've killed the first thing I came across! Carlosis would've loved that. Hell! The Greek would've loved that! Damn you to EVERY HELL, Timon! And, whoever set The Greek on us. He's definitely on my hit-list!'

This was the first time Alex had ever been to her grave. Part of her had always fatasized about who would try to remember her. But? She, now, she was always that someone would have recognized her, somehow!

Well? Somebody had!

Caitlyn and Dominique had been spying on Sammie and Clover, and had told Alex that both girls were jumpier than usual, even for Clover! According to Dominique: "Samantha avcted like she'd drunk a tanker-full of Espresso!"

And Caitlynn had discribed Clover in one word - "Mreow!"

And - from what she was now hearing - Alex had to say the spies of the spies were not exagerating!

"Are you SURE of what you saw, Sammie?" Clover whined low, "You can't have seen what you saw?  
PLEASE tell me you didn't saw what we saw! Please?"

"I TOLD you, CLOVER!" Samantha hissed out of rapid-fire motion, "I saw what I saw! And, you saw what I saw! And More importantly, I heard what I heard! So, QUIET!"

"Yes, ma'am?" Clover whimpered. "Sammie? Where are you going? Don't leave me!"

Alex' heart ached! Clover and Sam needed a reassuring hug!

"I'm not leaving you, Clover!" The redhead assured her friend."I'm just checking around Alex' grave for any tracks."

"Do ghosts leave tracks?" Clover whimpered, as she crept closer to her partner.

"I don't know." Sam mumbled.

"But, like, what do we do if we see her, again? Or, it?" The blonde asked. "Oh, my god, I hope it's an it?!"

"I don't know..", Samantha sighed. "Run like Hell?"

"First sensible thing you said all night, Sam." Alex dead-panned.

And, Sam and Clover leaped straight into the night sky!

"Clover? Caitlyn's right. You ARE acting alot like my pet-cat!" Alex responded when her friends hit the ground. "And, Sammie? Do us a favor? Lay off the coffee, awhile."

In response, Samantha instinctively swung her leg to knock Alex' legs from under her!

"I'm afraid that won't work, Sam!" Alex called down from a tree-branch where she sat, twelve feet above Samantha!

Alex then jumped down, landing right in front of Samantha. "No use looking for my footprints around this grave." She said. "Never once used, it's practically new. Some friends made sure I never had to claw my way out of it."

Sam and Clover grew pale, and stepped back.

"Alex?" Sam whispered frightfully, "That.. was you.. I heard.. last.. Oh, my god! What happened to you?"

"I was killed, Sammie." Alex whispered. Her eyes glowed like embers as she lifted her head to bare her fangs.

"Oh, m'god!" Clover yelped. "That.. thing.. last night.. was..?"

"Yes, it was me, Clover." Alex admitted. "Sorry, Clover! But? Killing that monster that killed me took everything I had in me out of me! And? That included fighting his command to kill you two! I had to do something to save you.. from me! Oh? And, Sammie?  
I'll try to find someway to pay for your car! I had to use to a a makeshift-crematorium!"

"Crematorium?!" Samantha jumped! "Alex? What was that thing you fought?"

"A vampire from South America, it's name was Arnulfo Carlosi." Alex answered.

"A VAMPIRE?!" Sam gasped. "Alex! You're a.. a..?"

Alex' eyes glowed a little brighter as she answered in a deathly-still breath:

"Yes."

"That's it!" Clover suddenly came to life. "I'm calling WOOHP! We need..."

Alex' eyes glowed a yellow flame, flecked with white, as she stared into her friends'  
souls:

"You will not call WOOHP. You will not go to WOOHP." Alex breathed out. "I do not trust WOOHP. WOOHP sent me.. to die."

Alex turned around, and Samantha and Clover started breathing normally, again.

"Girls? Do me these two favors? Consider them last requests! One? Look after my mom?  
I can't watch out for her all the time, and, I worry about her! And, two! Don't follow me! Please? I don't want what happened to me.. happening to you."

As she got to the trees, Alex turned around to Sam and Clover.

"I'll always love you, and I'll always watch over you."

With that said, Alex de la Vega vanished into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

The Moonlit Spy

(A Totally Spies-Moonlight crossover)

Chapter 3:

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy

Disclaimers:

"Totally Spies" is not mine! And? Never will be mine! It belongs to the French (I think?) Animation Company MARATHON!

"Moonlight" and its characters belong its creators, Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson, and Warner Brothers Television.

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy

The next two weeks were busy ones for Alex de la Vega. When she wasn't watching over Sam, Clover, or her mom, Alex was cautiously stalking WOOPH Headquarters, or planning her next missions with Mandy, Mick, and Josef.

"Are you sure about your target?" Mick asked the young spy.

"Pretty sure, Mr. ." Alex answered "More sure than I'd like to be! My instincts seemed to tell me something wasn't quite right at the office! At WOOHP. And,that was BEFORE I was turned. Just wished I'd listened to them, more, back then! I mean, 'Tim Scam' seemed to hang around WOOHP too much to just want revenge on it! at least, not without totally destroying or discrediting us. And, Jerry never seemed to lock Tim away that deeply! It's giving me nothing but the creeps, now!"

"'Jerry'?" Mandy asked.. and shivered. "I dinna s'pose ye'd have a picture of himself, do ye?"

"Only one." Alex said. "And? that one seems too overexposed to do us any good. Sam has the only descent picture of him that came out! And.. I'm berinning to have my doubts about that one! Also? I'm not bringing Sam or Clover into this! No more than they're in it, already."

"I understand, Alex, all t' well!" Mandy softly said as she caressed Alex's arm. "Ye want t' protect yuir kin. Desperately."

"Well? Care to join me, Mr. ?" Alex asked. "Hopefully? We can find out where Timon has been hiding! At least, flush out the other Carlosi? Giovanni?"

"Will do, Ms. de la Vega!" Mick answered.

"Oh! Amanda? Joseph?" Alex asked. "Will you watch out for Clover and Sam? I was able to get it into their heads that they need to stay away from WOOPH, But? As much as I wanted to.. as much as I should have.. I didn't command them to stay away from me. So far? They've avoided WOOHP like the plague, but, if I know the girls? They'll be searching for me. If they come by while I'm gone? Make them stay here!"

"And, how are we supposed to do that?" Joseph asked.

"Simple!" Alex giggled, remembering her friends. "Introduce yourselves!  
Sam needs to know all she can about who she's dealing with, and Clover LOVES a good story! See you, later!"

The next hour went by as quietly as usually at Joseph's establishment.  
Then, a couple of lady's walked in. More than a few patrons turned their heads to the duo. Because - as songs and poems had mentioned before - they just "didn't fit".

"So! This is where the 'Night-time crowd' hangs out." Samantha whispered.

"If what we found out is true." Clover replied. "But, like, how would Dominique and Caitlyn know about this place?"

"Everybody seems to be looking at us!" Sam hissed.

"Well, DUH! Girlfriend!" Clover answered. "They probably don't get too many living-customers, here!"

"Ya think?" Sam chirped out a come-back.

"Actually, we do have a mortal-clientele, here!" Joseph spoke up, as he came to Sam and Clover's end of the bar "ms. Simpson, I presume? And, Ms. Benoir?"

Sam and Clover leaped high and backwards, defensively, upon hearing their names spoken!

Slowly, Samantha crept up to the bar. "Pardon me.. sir.. but.. do we know you? Have we met?"

"No." Joseph Answered with a smile. "But, a friend of yours and ours has asked us to be on the look-out for you two until she returns."

"'She'?" Sammie peeped out.

"Alex de la Vega!" Joseph answered

"'Us'?" Clover asked. "Who is 'Us'?"

"'Us'," Joseph began, "as in me and.."  
"Hello, lassies!" Mandy chirped. "I see that Alejandrea had ye two VERRA well figured out! Herself said t' be expectin' ye!" Mandy grinned, exposing her fangs.

And, Clover went ballistic!

"MANDY?!" I bet you're the one that TURNED my ALEX into a VAMPIRE!"

Tears were starting to form in her eyes as Clover clawed toward Mandy's throat:

"Even if you didn't do it, yourself, I BET you had it DONE! Confess!"

Mandy's eyes started glowing like embers, and she grabbed Clover with a stomache-claw so tight she pinched into Clover's skin, drawing blood!

"Let go of me.. Benoir.." Mandy hissed, and tossed Clover over the bar to the other side!

"Oh, my god!" Samantha whispered.

"Don't worry!" Josef chuckled lightly. "It's happened before. Would you like some coffee, Ms. Simpson?"

Clover let her vision clear from the pain of hitting the floor- plus, Mandy's finger nails puncturing her skin- when she noticed the packets of blood behind thew bar:

"Oh, my god!" Clover yelped. "Sammie? I think we found their nest!"

"Perceptive as ever, Clover." Sammie sighed into her coffee.

"Ye've being takin' good care of yiurself, Clover-darlin'!" Mandy grinned as she licked her fingertips clean. "Moreso than I'd give ye credit for! Especially, after th' reports that Dominique and Caitlyn sent into us."

"WHAT?!" Clover leaned over the bar threateningly. "You had your pet-ghouls SPYING on us?"

"They were not spyin' on ye from my command, Benoir!", Mandy growled out, "but, for Alex' request! She's been to worryin' about you ever since the second time she woke up! Err.. the time she woke up. And? Yuir right about Dominique and Caitlyn being my ghouls! Much like I keep tellin' Alex ye need to be her ghouls! Oops."

"Great going, O'Dubhda." Josef chuckled. "You kicked both your feet into your mouth."

"WAITAMINUTE!" Sam suddenly screamed. "What 'Second time'?"

"And what do you mean Sam and I need to be Alex' ghouls?" Clover asked as she came around the counter.

"Hello, Josef!" Beth called out. "A cup of coffee, please! And, let me guess: They are Samantha and Clover? And, they've managed to uncork the O'Dubhda temper?"

"Hello, Beth!" Josef smiled sympathetically to Mandy. "And, to answer your questions? Yes, and yes!"

"what happened?" Beth asked.

"The spies didn't like being spied on!" Josef replied. " Let's set back and watch?"

Mandy held out her palms, shooting a stare into each girl. "One inquisitor at a time, ladies! Samantha? Yes, I said twice! The first time Alex awoke as a new creature, she had been left with no one t' imprint herself on, no one t' take her under their wing an' train her! An', I am sure, that was the plan of the idiot Carlosi that turned her! So? She had t' imprint on someone. An', that someone was me! Especially, since I'd known Alex the longest of anyone there, at the time. And? If I had to do it, again? I would! Unforunately, for her, that meant she had t' die again at m' bite! Also, it was meanin' she'd not wake up, hungry.. she'd wake up, starvin'! Not how ye'd want a friend t' waken.

"As for your question, Clover? Aye, I said you to need t'be Alex' ghouls! I told her - a few times, already - that she needs t'put the bite on ye! T' keep ye from puttin' yuirselves in danger, so often! An' now, before you get all pale an' faint on me from fright, hear this! Ye dinna become a vampire simply by just being bitten of one! It doesna work that way. Nor, does a bite automatically kill ye! For that t' happen, ye'd need lose more than a pint o' blood! And? To leave someone under a vampire's spell, ye've only need lose about an spoonful, an' gain a vampire's kiss or lick."

"Oh, wow.." Sam stood, spellbound, slowly shaking her head waking up.  
"How did you do that, Mandy?"

"Simple!" Mandy smiled. "The stare of a vampire's eyes can numb the brain's defences, momentarily. Therefor, making the words of a vampire t' have more of an effect on th' individual."

"Is that, like, why we've been staying away from WOOPH?" Clover asked. "I.. SEEM to remember Alex' voice! Damn! it's STILL hurting my head to think of that place!"

"Good!" Mandy chirped. "It means Alex's request is still guiding you! Believe me when I tell ye Alex has her reasons for warnin' ye away from that place! But? It will be her place t' tell ye the why an' th' wherefor and why of it!"

"Mandy?" Sammie asked tentatively. "Who are you? You aren't.. who we thought you were!"

"True enough, young Sam!" The Irish woman started. "I am Amanda Marie Aine O'Dubhda, born in Connaught in August of 1373 Anno Domini."

After three hours of listening to Mandy's and Josef's, and Beth's life-stories, and sharing their own, Samantha and Clover were met by two new arrivals:

"I though I smelled fresh-blood, around here." Alex dead-panned, then smiled. "Hello, Sammie! Hello, Clover! I'm glad I asked Amanda and Josef to wait for one two!"

"Waitaminute, Alex!" Sam spoke. "You were EXPECTING US?!"

Clover started giggling.

"More like expecting trouble!" Mandy and Josef chorused.  
Sam spun around to the vampires at the bar. "WHAT DID you say?!"

"Sammie?" Alex asked the rehead, "Since when have we three not found trouble to get into? And, just how much coffee have you had, today?"

"Ummm... Errr...", Samantha Simpson turned as pink as a radish. "Can I.. get back to you on those questions, Alex?" She then fidgeted. "I.. lost my temper, didn't I?"

Alex slowly nodded her head, yet locked her eyes on Sam:

"Yes. You. Did."

And, Clover fell on the flood, laughing and wiggling.

"Am I going to introduce myself, Alex?" Mick asked.

"Once the girls have recovered their senses." Alex answered.

After getting her best mortal-friends quieted-down.. and almost giving herself a headache in the process (and hearing, yet once again, from Mandy about having to "bite someone"), Alex settled into the nightly activities:

"Clover? Sammie? I'd like you to meet Micheal , U. , World War 2, and Private Detective. And,the Community's Knight in Shining Black Armor."

Clover and Samantha started to get up to introduce themselves.

"I wouldn't do that, girls! Not yet! Because what we have to say next will, probably, put you hard on your butts. Mick and I just got back from spying on WOOHP. And, we got bad news, and terrible news. The bad news is we couldn't find a clue to either Timon or Giovanni! The worst news? WOOPH's built like a safe-house for vampires!"

"WHAT?!" Sam and Clover screeched. "How's that POSSIBLE?! Jerry wouldn't.."

Alex eyes began to glow. "Girls? Quiet. Let Mick talk. He can explain better than I can. Mr. ?"

"Thank you, Ms. de la Vega. As soon as we walked into the building, I noticed how dark it was. The lighting was unusually low. About like it is here! Also, it's about the same temperature as here! About.. sweater-weather for mortals! And? Not many buildings in L.A. keep it that cold. The next thing I noticed was a certain - sound - to the halls. The sound you get when you walk on lead."

"Lead?" Samantha sudenly asked. "Who builds with lead?"

"Those who are sensitive to outside radiation." Josef answered. "Including direct sunlight."

"Which brings me to another thing I noticed about the building!" Mick continued, "All the windows are heavily-tinted!"

"Vampires can take a little sun," Beth said, "but, a usual day for us would be lethal to them!"

"After Mick pointed out the building to me," Alex said, "I started to notice Jerry's office." She then looked straight at Sam and Clover. "You ever notice how Jerry doesn't have a whole lot of photos of himself, but alot of paintings?"

"Now that you mention it..", Sam said, "It does seem strange.."

"Wait a minute!" Clover up! "But, like, didn't we all take a picture with Jerry?"

"But, remember how hazy the pictures seemed from our cameras, Clover?" Sam asked apprehensively.

"Yeah." Clover said. "But, like, Jerry's photos came out fine! Didn't they?"

"Photos can be photoshopped, Clover." Alex said. "Sam? I need the photo Jerry took! Here! I've still got mine. Notice how blurry Jerry is in mine?"

"Oh..my..god...!" Clover whispered hoarsely.

"Beth?" Alex asked. "Can you tell how much photoshopping was done of this picture?"

"Sure thing, Alex!" Beth took the pictures.

"And, Beth?" Mick asked. "Could you do some research on WOOPH? See how long they've been in the U.S.?"

"Already doing it, Mick!" She replied.

"but, like, why would Jerry DO this?" Clover whined.

"I've got an idea about that." Alex said, eyes glowing again. "Rememember the last time we were sent to Argetina, guys? To search for Tim Scam? Well? The vampire I decapitated and incinerated, the one that turned me? He and his brother called Beunos Aires,'Home'! And? Scam was working with them, there! And, it wasn't long after that that Jerry sent us, without back-up, on the mission that killed me! finally? 'Tim Scam' is just an alias! That thing's real name is Timon of Scandia."

"'Timon'?" Samantha gasped. "The.. vampire you're hunting? One of them? Does Jerry know?"

Alex took out a skectch from her purse. "I have a bad feeling he does. Amanda? We know Timon is the Black Squire! Arnulfo Carlosi called him 'The Greek' and "La Scandiana". Who was his master, the 'Red Knight'?"

"my worst nightmare..", Mandy said, "Ludovico Gherardini!"

"'Gherardini'?" Samantha gulped.

Alex handed Mandy the drawing. She looked at it, shut her eyes tightly to stem any tears, nodded her head, and wailed!

"Oh! That HURTS! My ears.." Clover tried to cover her ears.

"Oh, my god!" Sam gasped. "That sound! Her cry! It's breaking my heart!"

"I thought as much." Alex whispered, then hugged the crying vampire."It'll be ok, Amanda! You have friends, here."

"What happened to our Mistress?!" A voice cried out from the doorway!

"'Mistress'?" Clover turned toward the door at the word. "Caitlynn? Dominique?"

"I'm glad you got my message, girls!" Alex said. "Ludovico Gherardini's in town."

"Ludovico Gherardini?" Dominique exclaimed."Oh.. my God! Since when?"

"We've not sure.." Alex responded. "But? It's been long enough for him to become our boss."

"Here it is, Mick!" Beth called out."The stats on WOOHP. The 'World Organization of Human Protection' has been in the spy business here in California for 10 years! And?  
There doesn't seem to be any mention of it, anywhere else, before then."

"'Ten years'?!" Caitlyn yelped. "We've, like, been here for fifteen!"

"DAMMIT!" Dominique cried out. "That bastard FOLLOWED us here!"

"Probably with the help of his DAMNED Greek bloodhound!" Caitlyn swore. "I want to see that demon's head on a STAKE! Or, better yet, on a silver spike!"

Caitlynn and Dominique quickly moved to check on Mandy!

"You CALLED them?" Clover stared at Alex. "Why?"

"Because, Amanda will need close-friends around her, Clover!" Alex stared into Clover's eyes, and then Sam's. "And? I'm going to have my hands full with dealing with you two for the time being! Come on upstairs, guys. My temples are starting to hurt, damn it! Anyway, Josef leases out the rooms upstairs, and keeps a few open for 'emergancy use' when privacy is needed. And? this night's turning into a code-red."

"'Gherardini'?" Samantha kept repeating, as if in a trance. "'Gherardini'? 'Gherardi'? Gherardo? Gerard? Gerry? 'Jerry.. LEWIS?!" She then turned pleading eyes to Alex after the young vampire shut the door to the room. "Ludovico Gherardini.. Louis Gerard.. is 'Jerry Lewis'? OUR 'Jerry Lewis'?"

"I am afraid so.. Sammie." Alex whispered, as cool hands caressed a scared and fevered face. "I started asking questions as soon as my memories of the night I died started to clear-up. Why were we the only ones sent into that blood-orgy? Why didn't Jerry send in back-up? I think we called for some when we found all the blood. And?  
After I remembered an Argentine-accent and the name 'Arnulfo', Josef remembered the Carlosi Brothers! And, who sent us to trail 'Tim Scam' to Buenos Aires? Jerry asked for us - specifically - for that mission! I've had a feeling ever since that 'Jerry' -  
Gerardini - was sending us down there so the Carlosis would know who to hunt for when Tim brought them up here!"

"But.. what are we supposed to do? Clover and me! What do I do?"

"You'll do nothing, Samantha Simpson," Alex breathed just past her ear, "but listen to me, and calm down."

Alex then set Samantha down, and slowly unbottoned her blouse, exposing the neck and shoulder! She then tongue-tipped and kissed over the skin, searching for a small capillary,  
wanting to avoid the massive-bloodloss and death an artery-bite would cause.

Sam giggled softly.

Gently, Alex bit into flesh, licking up the hot trickle of blood.

And Sam whimpered.

Alex chewed and suckled the wound, lapping up the precious liquid!

And, Sammie started to moan. Then tremor and tremble.

Then, Sam started to pant!

'Tastes so young,' Alex thought lustfully, "so innocent!. So.."

"WHAT IN THE HELL? I.. can't take any more of you, Sam!" Alex pushed herself off her friend. "I want you, but I could kill.. oh, my god? Did I sent you into orgasm, Sam?"

Samantha was curled up in a fetal-position, cooing and babbling.

"Girlfriend?" Alex stared at the redhead in disbelief. "I expected that from Clover!"

"Can I go there?" Alex heard Clover behind her, low and husky.

Alex turned - and froze in mid-stride!

Clover, being Clover, had already stripped-down to her panties.

'I'm only taking a little.. I'm only taking a little..' Alex kept telling herself. 'I'm only taking a little bit. Not that much... not that much...'

As she gently brokes Clover's and tasted her blood, Alex marveled at how virgin the blonde's blood tasted! As soon as the blood started to trickle, the vampire started to noticed the changes in Clover she had taken of granted - if not just flat overlooked - in Samatha: How Clover's heartbeat and pulse, as well as her breathing, seemed to pick up for about five seconds! then, all three rythms seem to slow, as Clover went into a trance! Alex was grateful that neither girl flat-lined under her, but, just seemed to go into a deep sleep. Then, Clover's pulse jumped up. As did Alex.

"I did it, again! Clover, you lovely little pervert! And, here you've gone, crowing about all the fun you'vehad!" The vampire grinned with the knowledge she had gained of Clover's virginity. How she could use it to torture the poor girl. Blackmail was wonderful!

She also felt a strange twin-twinge of thrill and guilt over the power she felt she now had over them! Plus? Alex wondered, how in the world had she figured out the "sexual-purity" - for lack of a better term - of her friends?! That, she decided, was a question for Mandy to answer, later.

Alex got up from her snack and left Clover and Samantha in their states of orgasm, momentarily, and made her way to the bar downstairs.

"H'lo, Alex-darlin'!" The Irishwoman give the ex-spy a bit of a wicked smile."I take yuir needing a wee bit for Samantha and Clover?"

"You're sounding better, now, Amanda!" Alex smiled.

"Well? It's amazing what some tender loving care and a couple o' jiggers can do for the vampiric soul!" Mandy handed Alex a bag of bananas and oranges, and a bag of bagels.  
"I keep these around fer Dominique an' Caitlynn whenever they have t' feed me! The least I c'n do is to be building up their strength, afterwards."

"Thank you, Amanda!" Alex smiled as she took the fruit and bread. "I have a TON of questions for you after this is through!"

"An' I'll be answerin' them as I can! Now, get back to yuir girls!"

An hour later, and fours hours before sun-up, Alex slipped back out of the room:

"OK, you two!" Alex called back into the room. "Get some rest."

"Yes, Mistress!" Clover and Alex smiled.

Mandy just chuckled lightly.

"Amanda O'Dubhda?" Alex grumbled, "I'd kill you, now, if you weren't already dead!"

"Aye." Mandy smiled. "But? The headaches are gone? We heard the voices upstairs. Clover can get a wee bit loud."

"That, she can!" Alex giggled softly. "Did you have problems, when you first bit Caitlyn and Dominique?"

"With orgasms?" Mandy cackled. "Constantly! Still do! But.. that's not what yiur fear is, Alex Dhu, is it?"

"No, it isn't." Alex admitted in a whisper, staring out a window. "Before I bit them,  
I was terrified that I'd terrify them! You know? I mean, you've told me of the nightmares the Red Kight left you with, even after 600 years. I killed him, but, Carlosi still leaves me with Nightmares. Sometimes? I can hardly wait for sunrise, and the sleep of the dead. But. I didn't seem to give Sam or Clover nightmares. Don't get me wrong! I'm glad I didn't! THRILLED! But, why didn't I?"

"Because, m' Alex Dhu," Amanda anwseredthe neophyte, "You didna turn them! And, even if ye had, by accident, Vampires are forever locked t' their pasts. Includin' - unfortunately f'r us - the moment we get turned. You an' I, we had our lives, our worlds, our security -  
ripped away just before we died! 'Tis rather, I'd imagine, like getting raped! And, afterwards? Things happen that make us live it over, and over, again. But? Then, there are those like Caitlynn an' dominique, or Sam an' Clover, now! They willingly offered of themselves, and so their experiences are not so.. nighmarish. Caitlynn an' Dominique have told me it's.. quite th' pleasure!"

Alexand Mandy both looked at the morning sky, just starting to grey on the horizon.

"How are things wi' Samantha an' Clover at home?" Mandy asked.

"Thankfully, their mom's are out of town on business." Alex answered. "They seem to be withdrawing.. from our old life. Not just being spies, but, from everything! I'm worried!"

"Ye three always seemed t' be close!" Mandy grinned. only to let it fade. "i'm guessin' ye were their heart, Alex Dhu. An', now? That heart had been ripped out, and misplaced. But? They found it, again, as they needed to!" Mandy grinned again. "An', I think ? Put it back in place. As they were destined to!"

"But, what kind of heart do they have to work with?" Alex asked as she stared out the window at a brightening horizon.

Mandy caressed Alex' arm and squeezed her hand. "They have th' same carin' heart they knew before! Plus? A wer bit more protective an' possessive one! Come! Time t' sleep. I told Caitlyn an' Dominique t' keep watch over yiur two wee birds!"

"It's a good thing I told Sam and Clover they'd have to play nice with them, then!" Alex giggled.


	4. Chapter 4

The Moonlit Spy

(A Totally Spies-Moonlight crossover)

Chapter 4:

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy

Disclaimers:

"Totally Spies" is not mine! And? Never will be mine! It belongs to the French (I think?) Animation Company MARATHON!

"Moonlight" and its characters belong its creators, Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson, and Warber Brothers Television.

"The High Chapperal", a Western Drama which ran of the ABC-TV Network from 1967 to 1971, was the property of its creator, David Dortort(1916-2010) and Xanadu Productions.

"Zorro", a fictional character, first appeared in 1919. The incrnation I use is the property of Walt Disney Productions (produced from 1957 to 1959).

I hope I can, at least, claim credit - good or bad - for the story-idea :)

NOTE:

The Chiricahua Apache of southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico, and adjacent areas of old Mexico, were those led by the Chiefs Vittorio, Manges Coloradas, Cochise, and Geronimo. After thedefeat of Geronimo, the Chiricuhua were exiledto San Augustine, Florida. Later, around 1913, the Chiricahua were permitted to live with the Comanche and Kiowa in , Oklahoma. Later on, some of the Chiricahua - including Cochise' youngest-son and the last hereditary-chief of the Chiricahua, Naiche (d.1919), were allowed to live onthe Mescalero Resevation in New Mexico.

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy

The next evening found Sam and Clover, Dominique and Caitlynn working to spruce-up Josef's cafe when Alex and Mandy woke up!

"How did you four get in here?" Alex asked.

Sam and Clover grinned a bit evilly, and pointed to Caitlynn. "Ask her!"

"it would have been easier if we'd been home!" Caitlynn replied. "As it is, Josef DOES trust SOME of us enough to give an extra set of keys to the restaurant to Dominique and I!"

"Well? What's on the agenda, tonight, m'lady?" Clover bowed and smirked, as she offered a packet of blood to Alex.

"Drama queen!" Alex smirked.

"Always!" Clover replied as she pulled a red opera-mask slowly in front of her eyes.

"Clover!", Samantha squeeled in a high-squeek, as she also handed Alex a packet. "Don't be so mean to 'Mama'!"

And Mandy started to chuckle.

"'Mama'?" Alex meeped. Then whispered "Oh, my god... what have I done?"

And Mandy, along with Caitlynn and Dominique, exploded in laughter!

"I'd be dying of embarassment, now," Alex whimpered, "if I weren't already dead."

After the dinner, Alex, Mandy, and the rest were joined by Josef, Mick, and Beth for the exening's battle-strategy:

"As much as I would love to enjoy the nightlife," Alex said, "I can't!  
Not with our enemies still circling us. So? The hunt is still on!" She then looked straight into Sam and Clover. "But not for you two! I can't take the chance of Giovanni Carlosi taking control of me like Arnulfo did. Caitlynn? Dominique? I hate to do this, since I'm not your mater, but.. Would you mind babysitting Sam and Clover, again?"

"We'll be glad to, Alexandria!" Dominique answered with a wicked grin. "Your girls aren't that bad.. yet."

"'Yet'?" Sam meeped.

"Hey!" Clover shot back defensively. "We NEVER get 'that bad'!" She then blew a raspberry to Dominique.

"Yeah. Real mature, Clover!" Samantha groused. "And, right in front of Mick, Beth, and Josef!"

"Yeah, whatever!" clover winked at Sam. "Besides, Dominique! What could you and Caitlynn POSSIBLY do to us if we DID get 'that bad'?"

"Do diapers, pacifiers, and bassinets paint a good picture, Benoir?" Caitlynn answered.

Samantha caught her breath at the mental-image.

"You wouldn't." Clover growled.

"And we'd have pictures of you two plastered all over the Hills!" Dominique grinned - much like a hungry wolf.

"They would, Clover!" Samantha whined.

"Anyway!" Alex interrupted. "I'm going to check on my mom, to see that she's alright, then I'm going hunting! Hopefully, I can track down the elusive Carlosi. And, who knows? Maybe, I can get a lead on Timon?"

"Maybe he can lead you to Ludovico?" Samantha asked.

"I hope not, Sammie!" Alex winced. "Not yet, anyway. I still need to know more of what I'm dealing with, there! The way WOOHP Headquarters is built? Not only does it seem like a Vampire-safehouse, but it screams 'trap' for anyone else!"

"About that, Alex?" Beth said, "I was finally able to look up everythingi could on WOOHP! It seems likethey started business, here in L.A., in 1958! Before then, it was reported they came from Switzerland. But? I couldn't find anything on they operations in Europe!"

"1958?" Mandy asked. "But, the girls and I just moved here in 2007! And, we wouldna have moved here if I had known th' red Knight was on th'prowl, here!"

"How much you want to bet Ludovico and his Squire came here to find a new place to hunt?" Mick asked. "I've learned, over the years, that vampires can mask their presence. Even from other vampires."

"Especially someone with as many years of experience as that old demon." Josef lamented. "Even in my youth, Ludovico was talked about. Mainly, in fearful Whispers of his origins. The rumours were he had been a Crusader, killing and plundering - and raping - in the Pope's name in the East! Many of the early Crusaders were thugs who took the cross to absolve themselves of sin. And, many kept right on sinning as they did so! Among the worse was Ludovico Gherardi! And, supposedly, that is how he became a vampire! He robbed and killed the wrong family in Syria! And then, later, tried to seduce that family's avenger! Unfortunely, being Vampiric does not change who you are. Just strengthens the traits you have! The good and the bad."

"Alex? Are you sure you don't want us to go with you?" Clover asked. "For, like, back-up?"

"I'm with Alex, Clover!" Sam said, worriedly. "One of the Carlosis is still alive, and there's Timon! And who knows who else Ludovico's got in his train that we don't know about?! A stake and a sword might not be enough firepower!"

"For once, de la Vega, I'm agreein' wi' yuir ghouls!" Mandy spoke up. "I know yuir worryin' of us. But! If ye run into th' Red Knight or his Hound? Alone an' armed as ye are? Death would be the kindest thing t' happen to ye!"

"I know, Amanda!" Alex answered. "And, that's why I'm going alone. I remember what Giovanni almost make me do! Even after I staked and paralyzed him, it was hard getting his last command out of my soul! I will NOT be putting anyone's life at risk like that, again! I'll go alone."

"At least be updating yuir offence, then, Alejandrea!" Mandy chirped. "Kostas! We'll need t'be borrowin' the crossbow!"

"'Crossbow'?" Sam and Clover asked.

"one step ahead of you, Amanda!" Josef replied. "Decided to get this out, this morning, after everyone else went home!"

Josef came up from behind the bar.

And, Sam and Clover stared in awe!

"That's.. a crossbow?" Clover gasped.

"No way! That's not a crossbow!" Sam argued. "That's a damned BALLISTA! You could fire a Stinger Missile from that thing!"

"Hey!" Clover developed the goofiest of grins. "If Alex doesn't use it, tonight, can we play with it?"

"It IS a bit large for a mortal to handle." Josef grinned.

"Is there a place to practice with it, Mr. Kostas?" Alex asked.

"I have a firing-range near here!"

"Let's go, them!" Alex developed a wicked grin. "I want to see this cute thing in action!" Fifteen minutes later, a small group gather in a deserted lot strewn with rubble-piles.

"I'm surprised this lot even exists!" Samantha exclaimed. "It's big enough that SOMEONE would want to build on here!"

"And, I might let them!" Josef answered. "In a couple of decades, after i'm through using the place!"

"Spoken like the Josef we all know and fear!" Mick chuckled.

"OK," Josef said as he placed the crossbow in loading-position in front of Alex. "the targets a are wooden circles at five yards, ten yards, and twenty-five yards. See how many of the targets you can hit!"

In five minutes, Alex loaded, aimed, and fired the crossbow at all three targets, firing four bolts and only missing the farthest target, once!

"I like it," the vampire-spy said. "It is a bit heavier than you'd think a crossbow should be. Sam? Clover? I'm off to make sure mom's alright. Play nice.. and try not to hurt anyone! At least, not yet."

With a smile and a kiss to Sam and Clover, Alex was off in a flash!

The de la Vega house was strangely quiet as Alex entered the yard. This bothered her, for Carmen Montoya y Cannon left the front light on until the following morning - ALWAYS! Carmen had always told her her daughter the neighborhood needed at least one light burning at night! And the house, this night, was as dark as a cave!

Alex patrolled around the house, listening - hoping - for any signs of life. Any at all!

Then, after she slowly made a complete-ciruit of the house, Alex entered.

It was dark. Very little of what light there seemed to be outside seemed to even try to filter in. Alex adjusted her eyes to the darkness. The darkness was almost physical, like a cloak or a heavy hand. It bothered her. Something was not right! Finding the switch, Alex turned on a light. Then, after scanning the lower-rooms, she closed her eyes, and inhaled. Then, she screamed, as she felt what was left of her soul get ripped voilently from her!

The scents in the room wasn't exactly new to her! Alejandrea had smelled them, before. One was the brother of the vampire she had killed and burned. The other she had never met - in her present-life. But? Something in the smell reminded her of an old nemisis: Timon of Scandia, a.k.a. "Tim Scam"!

No. They had not feasted on her! At least, not here. Alex smelled no blood. And, no matter how old, Alex was learning the smell of blood. No. They had not killed her mother. Not here. But, that bit of grace only left a more-troubling thought:

The Greek had taken Carmen to his Master! And, who knew what the Red Knight would do to her?

Alex screamed like a Banshee, her eyes running red as her tears mixed with blood! Then, as she felt the world collapse in on her, she rolled up in a bowl, praying for a death she knew could never come! Not for her, anyway.

"Get up, menina!" A Hispanic-accent seemed to command her! "Do not let El Diablo win. GET UP! On your feet! You are not the first Montoya to fall to a vampire, no. BUT! We Montoya FIGHT like the bulls! We fight, even when we have nothing left to fight with! GET UP!"

Alex got up, as her eyes cleared to see. She took another sniff. There was no one in the room, currently, but her. And.. the voice.

"Muchos gracias, for waking me!" Alex responded. "But, por favor? Who are you.. to command me so? Another vampire? Do I know you? How do you know about my family?"

The voice chuckled:

"So many questions! But? That is to be expected, no? You are, after all, confused! Do you know me? No."

Alex spun around to the voice in back of her - to stare, in disbelief, at the face of a grey-haired old man, with the finely-cut lines of old Mexico in his face.

"But, I know you." The man in the mirror smiled.. then, faded.

And, Alex stared at an empty mirror, with not even her reflection answering her gaze.

"As for who I am?" The voice answered from a wall the the left of Alex. "My name is Manolo Montoya! My family and friends called me "Manolito', except for my sister! I am your mother's grandfather's granfather."

Alex looked at the vaquero who held himself with all the pride of a Spanish grandee:

"And? Why I am here? I am here because - even though you are, now, a vampire - you were, and still are, flesh of my flesh, serveral times over, and blood of my blood! The spirit in you is half-Montoya! And, when that spirit cried out, I heard it! What those monsters did to you... they not only killed your body, but raped your spirit! I - and every other Montoya through the centuries that had to face the vampires - are here to aid you. As are the people of your papa!"

"You.. had to face Vampires?" Alex knelt on the floor, captivated by the ghostly presence.

"About 1899, muchacha." Manolo softly said. "Muy papa, Don Sebastian, had always told my sister and I stories about out ancsetors, how they fought the dead and the undead! Then, after Patron died, Tio Domingo came to inherit the racho. I.. never seemed to be interested in holding the rancho, much to papa's dismay. But? I inherited the great Silver sword of the Montoya! At first, I thought it was only a symbol! But? Soon? I learned it's true purpose! For? An old enemy of the family came to seek vangeange on the family! An old bat by the name of Ludovico Gherardi!"

And, Alex felt a shiver run through her!

"Yes," The ghost sighed, "THAT Gherardi! Ah, so many were the times I wanted to warn you and your mama about the bat. I wanted to SCREAM out the warning! But, sadly, I was never able to scream it out loud enough! Anyway, Ludovico came to Rancho Montoya after the death of Tio Domingo, swearing vengeange for the wounds inflicted on him by our grandfather. He had simply did what all vapires do, waited for the spirit of the Montoya to grow weak with time. And? We.. allowed it to happen! After all? Who believes in vampires, anymore? Just the old and superstitious, no? Well? He almost got his vengeance. He scared my wife so thoroughly that she took her own life, instead of being turned into a vampire! And, he almost turned my oldest son - your great-grandfather - into one of the living-dead! That is when I used the Silver Sword of the Montoya, and the flame on him! Or? Tried to. It was only the Devil's luck that Ludovico was not burned, and only receives a cut to the arm and thigh! And? He swore he'd be back for vangeance - again - against the Montoya!"

"So! 'Jerry' knew what he was doing when he made me his spy - he knew what he wanted." Alex cried. "Damn him!"

"I am afraid we will have to continue with this coverseration,later, muchacha!" The ghost spoke in an animated manner. "And, we will! But? I believe there is someone coing to the door! And, unfortunately, I have met him, already, before you can in here!"

Manolito then vanished into the air.

Alex stealthily withdrew her swords, clicked off the light, and melted into the shadows.

And the door was kicked in, off its hinges!

"Come on out, Signorae!" Giovanni commanded. "I KNOW you are here! It is just as Il Greaco said! All Ihad to do was wait here, that you would show up. Show yourself! Take the punishment you so richly desrve for killing your papa - mi fratello!"

"Where are you, mina?" The vampire chuckled. "Il Greco told me if I waited long enough, I would find you, here! We have some unfinished business, you and I, si? An eye for an eye? You..  
for mi fratello! Who knows? Maybe we will make wild love.. before I KILL YOU."

Alex slowly clicked in the lights, and stepped up towards Giovanni, swords drawn:

"I have come out," she said slowly and evenly, eyes locked on Giovanni's, "but the punishment shall be yours. You should have never left Buenos Aires, Carlosi. You and your fratello came an awfully-long way just to die."

"And? I don't make deals, Giovanni." Alex kept her voice smooth and calm and she stepped out in the middle of the room. "And? The only promise I'll make.. is to send you straight to Hell!"

She then planted a hard heel into Giovanni's solar plexis, sending him sprawling onto the middle of the floor! she then withdrew a wooden stake, and charged down into the Neopolitano.

Giovanni swiftly rolled and sprang to his feet, his sword in hand. "You shall die, slowly, ragazza," He swore as the two vampires cirles each other, "piece by piece, until I slice your head from what's left of the body! Si."

"You are welcomed to try, Giovanni!" Alex hissed. "Come."

Giovanni then moved in to slice off her right hand - or maime it! But, Alex pivotted to her left, letting her opponent charge past her, and into the wall!  
Giovanni then returned to circling, trying to stab or slash Alex! But, each time the blade would meet its mark, the mark had moved!

"Nice try, Neapolitano!" Alex chuckled darkly. "now, let us see how you like a taste of silver!"

With a flash of metal, Alex slashed a tear in Giovanni's vest and shirt with her right-handed sword, leaving a cut just below his left nipple.

"Age has made you old and sloppy, demon." Alex softly cooed. "care to try, again?"

And,oncemore, they circled each other, the circles ever-tightening, as each searched for the other's weaknesses.

Giovanni's eyes began to glowed. "First.. I will conquer you!" He growled. "Then, I will destroy you!"

Alex' eyes glowed fiercer in responce!

"Arnulfo already tried, Giovanni!" The spy rasped out. "and? I learn.. very fast!"

With lightning reflexes, Alex snaked out her right-handed sword, and pricking Giovanni's right eye as he pivotted on his right leg!

"DAMN YOU!" Carlosi screamed! Then, he lunged - right into an oaken stake!

As Giovanni Carlosi lie motionless on the floor, paralyzed by impalement through the heart, Alex de la Vega y Montoya removed an ancient francesca from her belt. "A gift..from a friend." She grinned. Then, she bent over to whisper to Giovanni:

"Before you leave for Hell, Carlosi.. where is my mother?"

"A.. gift.." Giovanni wheezed and - struggled - to smirk. "From Il Greaco.. to his Liege."

"DAMN YOU!" Alex howled - and buried the axe through the vampire's neck and into the floor!

"You did well, muchacha!" Manolito whispered. "The hard part is over, now! At least? It is for this one."

"How many hours left until sunrise?" Alex asked, having lost all track of time.

"About.. three hours.." The ghost sighed.

"Already 4am? Still too long to wait and have the morning sun to destroy him." Alex observed.

"True.." Manolito thought. "you still have enough fuel for the fireplace to roast his head! To ash, even. But.. I do hot know about the rest of his accursed body."

"I'll burn his brains out, here!" Alex decided. "I'll call some friends to help me dispose of the rest of him! While we're waiting, care to show me where the Sword of Montoya is? That way," She added sheepishly, "I can give back what I've had to borrow!"

As soon as she had stacked the firewood around the head of Giovanni Carlosi and poured lighter-fluid in and around it and lit the fire - taking all of an hour to accomplish - Alex collected her thoughts and called the restaurant:

"Hello? Josef? Yes, this is Alex! I'm not fine. No. Listen. Can you Have Mick come to my mom's house? My mom was kidnapped, and.. Yes, Kidnapped. By Giovanni and Timon! What? Well..  
because Giovanni showed up wanting revenge for his brother's death. Josef?! It's not a laughing-matter! Well? Heehee! When you put it that way, it is! Well? That's why I'm calling.  
His head is roasting, now, but I need help getting rid of the rest of him. OK! See you in ten!  
Bye."

"Let me guess!" A second ghost appeared to stroll into the room. "Another vampire? Or, two?"

"Calm down, Big John," Manolito softly spoke, "from the way she spoke, they must be friends of our descendant?"

"Three vampires, probably!" Alex smiled, "And, yes, they are my friends! Helped me keep my sanity and sense of right-and-wrong since this whole nightmare started. And, you are..? Besides a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather?"

The big man flashed a smile and stuck out his hand. "I am 'Big' John Cannon! Besides being your mother's mother's great-great-great-grandpa? I am Manolito's brother-in-Law! I was alive at the time that vampire came to exact his revenge on the Montoyas! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do all that much with just firearms. Although, those bullets and shells of the Rancho Montoya did help, a little."

"Silver has always been toxic to vampires, Big John!" Manolito grinned. "Papa used to say he always valued the wealth of his mines in battle! Once he learned there was silver on Rancho Montoya, anyway!"

"That is because I ALWAYS believed the BATTLE would return, Manolo!" A gray-bearded ghost appeared in the room, and rose from a chair and walke over to Alex to the sound of silver rawls and tiny bells. "So! This is my descendent!" He hugged and kissed Alex. "Gracias, amiga, for staying true to your blood! I am Don Sebastian Montoya! And, I am honored to meet you!" The old ghost bowed.

"Muchos gracias por favor, Don Sebastian!" Alex softly smiled.

"Pray Pardon, Papa!" Manolito cut in, "Muy muchacha, we have company! Two automobiles have driven into the driveway."

"What? Vampires don't need autos to get around! Do we?" Alex asked, then peered outside. "Madre de Dios! What are THEY doing up this early in the morning?!"

"I take it some of our visitors are not vampires?" A soft female voice came into the room.

And Alex turned around, and found her breath caught in her throat!

The ghost, while a bit bit fairer in skin-tone, could have been Carman Montoya y Cannon's twin!

"Alejandrea?" Manolito made the introduction, "My I present to you your great-great-great-  
great-great-grandmother, my sister, Victoria Cannon y Montoya?"

Alex just stood there, transfixed.

"Alex?!" Mick said and he Josef opened the door. The private-detective than looked around.  
"Would are all these people?"

"Oh! Samantha? Clover? Dominique? Caitlynn?" Josef announced. "Watch that you don't trip over the - headless? - corpse on your way in here! Giovanni's head still in the fire?"

"Roasting in the fireplace as we speak, Josef." Alex answered quietly. "Ah, Mick? I'd.. like you to meet my ancestors? Big John Cannon and the Montoyas!"

"Where?" Clover asked. "All I see are shimmering.. vapors...? Oh.. My..."

"God!" Sammie quietly gasped. "It's like a ghost-convention!"

"Wait a minute!" Josef turned to face Alex. "Did you just say 'Montoya'?"

"I just did!" Alex smirked. "Wait! Did.. you have a run-in with any of my family?"

"Your family?" Sammie asked Alex.

"It was about 100 years ago!" Josef said. "I had been on this said of the Atlantic for about 50 years, when I decided to do some traveling! I'd heard stories about the mountains beyond the great river, and figured that would be a nice place for a vampire to lose himself!  
So? I managed to find a train bound for the west when I reached , and wound up in Santa Fe, New Mexico! I'd thought of staying there for awhile, when who should I meet but an Old-Mexican vampire-hunter by the name of Montoya!"

"Vampire-hunter?" Clover meeped.

"Age has not dulled your memory, Josef!" Manolito smiled. "Obviously.. no one has taken your head, yet!"

"Manolo!" Don Sebatian called his son out, a twinkle in his eye. "Please.. explain to me.. why this vampire is not dead, yet?"

"Pray pardon, Papa!" Manolito smiled. "But, Senor Kostas had not turned anyone at the time we met, or? Even left them for dead! And? He kept his record clean all the time I knew him!"

"Wait a minute!" Mick smirked. "Josef Kostas not taking blood? When did you go on a sabbatical?"

"I did not say he refrained from taking blood!" Manolito grinned. "Just that he did not kill or turn anybody! And? He never had an unwilling ... accomplice."

"Now, THAT sounds more like the Josef I know!" Mick remarked with a smirk.

"And, you are..? Senor?" Don Sebastian asked.

"Michael !" Mick came to Attention. "U. , Europe, World War 2 ! And? A Private detective! A Vampire since the early 1950s."

"Hm. And, you can vouch for Senor Kostas?" Don Sebastian asked Mick.

"For as long as I've known him!" Mick smiled.

"And, who is the young woman?" Big John asked."She's been standing as straight as a fence-  
postever since she's been here."

"And, glancin' nervously t'wards Alex, big brother!" A ghost in dusty black and blue appeared next to where Mandy stood. "Who ARE you, girl? Speak!"

"Leave her alone. pookah!" Dominique softly spoke and Caitlynn growled. "Our cousin's done nothing to you, or your family!"

"Except try to save what the Carlosis left of me." Alex said in a low voice that - surprisingly - everyone heard.

"Ah-ha!" Manolito chuckled. "She is Matrone! Then, muchacha," Manolito turned to Mandy, "the families Montoya and Cannon have MUCH to thank you for!"

"Uno momento, Buck!" Victoria spoke. "She is scared! Give her a chance to breathe!"

Alex walked, slowly swaying, over to Mandy, and caressed her face, and looked into her eyes:

"This is my family, Amanda O'Doudha, they mean you no harm! They're just being protective of me."

"So? Miss O'Dowd? We heard Manolito mention Gherardo?" A sandy-haired cowboy appeared at the other side of Mandy opposite Buck. "Oh? Pardon me, Ma'am! Almost forgot my manners! I'm Billy Blue Cannon! You've already met my pa and uncle. We kind of figured old Gherardo was the one responsible for having Alex turned. And, you are her Matrone? That means you had to bite her, again?"

"Aye..", Mandy said, sadly, "t' keep Alex from runin' amok, as the Malay call it. A wildness that no one can yet explain! In we vampires.. the lure of fresh blood takes presidence over everything else! And? How we get it, determines our way through eternity! It is our fate."

"A vampire.. biting another vampire?" Big John pondered. "Does it happen, much, Ms. O'Dowd?"

"Not as much as it needs to, Master Cannon!" Amanda answered darkly. "But? It happens! Usually, it is happenin' because of vampires warring over spheres-of-  
influence.. territory.. but? It can be happenin' too out of fear an' the instinct-  
for-preservation! The one thing a vampire fears, above all else, is one of our own goin' rogue! For? they are the ones who make us known to the world outside. It's just sorry I am that my existence has brought such a horror to your families! For?  
I am sure it is me that the devil is after! Even after 600 years, the Red Knight is after me! Wantin' me back."

"Only 600 years?" Don Sebastian responded. "Try 800 years! Do not worry yourself, muchacha! From the stories I was hnded down, El Diablo Rojo has wanted revenge on the Family Montoya for longer than he has hunted yours. It was a Montoya who hunted him down.. when he came to hunt in Valencia and Andalusia!"

"It sounds like this 'Ludovico', this 'Diablo Rojo', has been a very busy fellow over the years!" A male voice floated softly from upstairs, along with the sound of jingling rowells. "And, one far too lucky to be left alive, any longer. So. May I be of assistance?"

Every mortal and vampire looked up the darkened stairs. The black hat and flowly cape were seen in glimpses as they descended the stairs. Occasionally, the movements would be punctuated by light dancing off a flashing sword!

"Pardon me," Mick asked the spectre as it finally reach the ground-floor, "but, who are you?"

"Pardon given, Senor St. John." The ghost smiled. "My name is Diego de la Vega! And? I and Alejandra's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfat her! And? Like the familia Cannon and Montoya? The de la Vega have had our experiences - with vampires!  
Si. Somehow? They managed to crossthe oceans into Alto California when the missions were mere infants! When I first came here, after my father, I thought that I would just be fighting corrupt Alcaldes and Soldiers! But? I soon found out I had to deal with at least one vampire! But? I am afraid that story must wait.. for another time! Alejandrea?  
Senorita O'O'Doudha? The sun fast approaches! Do you, pe chance, have a place to stay? That you can get to before the sun rises?"

As everyone prepared to leave the de Lega house, Clover open the front-door - and screamed:

"ALEX!"

"WHat is it, Clo..." Alex turned around, and tried not to stare.

At the doorway, was a native shaman holding a spear.

"Do not look at him, Clover," Alex said, "not directly! It's a sign of disrespect."

"OKay.." Clove answered with a squeak. "I won't."

"Who is he, Alex?" Samantha asked. "He looks like an Apache?"  
"He is Apache, Sammie." Alex answered. "Chiricahua."

Alex came to the door and greeted the old man.

"You! I have come to you because of a dream." The old man said. "I am 90 years old! I was told to give you this lance when I was 15. You are of the blood of Montoya and Black Fox!"

"I am." Alex replied.  
"Take this!" The old man passed the spear to Alex. "Bring peace to Black Fox."

"I will." Alex nodded.

The old man vanished in the shadows.

"Come on." Alex said. "Let's get home."

"Alex?" Mick asked after they locked-up the house. "Who was that. And, who is Black Fox?"

"That was a relative of mine from the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico." Alex answered. "As for who Black Fox was? She was Manolito Montoya's wife. She was my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother."


	5. Chapter 5

The Moonlit Spy

(A Totally Spies-Moonlight crossover)

Chapter 5:

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy

Disclaimers:

"Totally Spies" is not mine! And? Never will be mine! It belongs to the French (I think?) Animation Company MARATHON!

"Moonlight" and its characters belong its creators, Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson, and Warner Brothers Television.

"The High Chapperal", a Western Drama which ran of the ABC-TV Network from 1967 to 1971, was the property of its creator, David Dortort(1916-2010) and Xanadu Productions.

"Zorro", a fictional character, first appeared in 1919. The incarnation I use is the property of Walt Disney Productions (produced from 1957 to 1959).

I hope I can, at least, claim credit - good or bad - for the story-idea :)

"Le Serpent Verte" is a French folksong.

Cochise (in Western Apache "K'uu-ch'ish", meaning "oak") (c.1805 - 8 June 1874), was the hereditary principal-chief ("nantan") of the Chokonen - or Central - Chiricahua-Apache.

Mangas Coloradas (or "Dasoda-hae" ("He Just Sits There") (c.1793 18 Jan. 1863), was (according to Wikipedia) a tribal Chief of the Mimbre o-band of the Ch h ne Chiricahua-  
Apache.

moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy moonlitspymoonlitspymoonlitspy

The next evening found Alex stalking the cemetery where she was supposedly buried.

"My body was never here, and I have no reason to return here." Alex reasoned to herself as she set-up Josef's crossbow in a tree with a perfect-sight on "her" grave."But? Timon doesn't seem to know that! I smell his tracks all around here! I'm sure the idiot wants me, and I want to know what he did with my mom!"

She then carefully took a silver bolt, and placed it into the track of the crossbow!

"Now, all I have to do is wait for The Greek to show up!"

Alex then tried to think of everything she had learned about the vampire she was hunting.  
That he was meticulous, she had no doubt! She knew him to be a braggert from all the times that she, Sam and Clover had crossed his path. However, he did have reason to boast. Sometimes, it seemed as though he had been beaten more by shear luck than by their skills! Or, was it? She had learned in just the short time she had walked among the undead that they held vast hypnotic powers, though she had yet to learn why. And, since Timon was not only Greek, but - according to Josef - Byzantine, obviously very old! So? He more than likely had a few centuries with which to hone his skills!

However - Alex had to smile to herself - she was no idiot when it came to mental-games, either! Her mother had taught her, she remembered, many of the tricks and traps of hypnosis. And, how to avoid them! And? Turn the tables on the hypotizer!

Alex scanned her portion of the cemetery, again. The afterglow of evening was leaving, and the few lights around the cemetery's borders seemed to burn brighter than a full-moon! The vampiric-spy calmed herself down, and allowed her eyes to focus to the strange lighting.

In a couple of hours, Timon of Scandia did appear at the gravesite, and started sniffing and pacing around.

Alex grinned, and decided to make a game of this.

"I can smell you, fledgeling!" Timon muttered. "I can tell you were here. But, where did you fly off to? Your scent is an hour old! So, where are you!"

"Look up, Timon," Alex whispered, "I'm still here." Alex dropped to the ground, crossbow strapped to her back, before a stunned Timom could turn to look up where she had been.

"Now I am down here, Scandiano!" Alex hissed, letting the hypnotic qualities of her soft voice enter Timon's and work against his brain.

Timon looked in Alex' direction - but, she was gone!

"The centuries have made you slow, old one." Alex laughed softly. Teasingly. "Maybe, if Sammie were the vampire, you would win? Who knows? No doubt, you had her mesmerized - long ago! But, then, my Samantha has always loved a mind as sharp as her own! Pity, she had to fall for an illusion."

"MY SUPERIORITY is NO ILLUSION!" Timon shouted, spinning around.

"Well? We know that your ego is no illusion." Alex responded,moving again.

"DO NOT MOCK ME, GIRL!" Timon screamed.

"Why not?" Alex giggled.

'After all', She spoke clearly inside Timon's mind, 'We both know you are no more than Ludovico's puppet! His obedient puppy.'

"SHUT UP!" Timon screamed. "You shall BEG for death!"

"I am in back of you, puppy." Alex' voice was calm, unearthly serene.

Timon spun around .. into the eyes of someone that was standing within five strides of him, yet - strangely - seemed a million miles away!

Timon tried to look into Alex' eyes, to connect to her spirit and capture her soul.  
But? Her chocolate eyes always seemed to look away, to focus on something else just before he would make contact!

After a few minutes of this game, Timon felt himself lost in Alex' head, as a boat at sea without wind or current to guide it. He felt his resolve - any power he may have had over the wwoman-child and events around her - slipping away.

That is when Alex de la Vega's eyes seemed to turn to him, and go from choclate-brown to blood-red. Then, glow an eerie gold, and flash with white, burning as the very heart of the sun!

And, Timon found he could not tear himself free from his foe's mind! He was trapped!  
He was doomed.

"You have .. greatly .. underestimated me, Timon of Scandia." Alex whispered. "Before I became a vampire .. before I was even a spy .. I was a huntress! My father and grandfathers thought me the ways of the hunt before I was in middle-school! They taught me how to track.. taught me how to wait.. taught me how to think like my prey. Your time has come, Timon of Scandia."

Timon hesitated a bit, just a bit, before Alex' determined gaze.

Then, Alex pulled the trigger of the crossbow:

THUNK!

The silver bolt buried itself through Timon's body, piercing the heart, and paralizing the Greek vampire!

"You shall be dead by sunrise, Timon." Alex promised him, her eyes glowing mercilessly. "But, first, you shall tell me: Why does Ludovico want my mother?"

"Be.. cause.. she is Montoya!" The Greek panted, speaking under compulsion. "She.. is of.. the blood.. of his deadliest enemy. It pleases him.. to CONTROL her! To .. use her.."

"So." Alex said slowly. "My mother.. is dead, now?"

"Well on her way.. to being .. My Master's pet." Timon chuckled weakly. "Do not.. worry..  
huntress.. you shall see her.. again..."

"Of that, Greek, I have no doubt!" Alex replied, drawing forth the swords of the Montoyas and de la Vegas. "But? Have no doubt that you will not live to see it! My mother.. did not like toying with people."

Alex swung the swords down and through Timon's neck!

"And.. NEITHER DO I !"

Alex then flipped open a cell-phone:

"Hello, Beth? Yeah, this is Alex. Listen! May I ask a favor of you?"

Ninety minutes later, Beth, Mick, Josef, and Alex were at Josef's vacant lot.

"We can roast the black rat's heart at the restaurant, to let Mandy and the girls know he's finally gone." Alex said, "But? The rest of his body gets burned, here!" The spy then proceded to immerse Timon's head in a barrel of napalm.

"Kosten?" Alex dead-panned. "I will not ask where you got the napalm from. I didn't even think a vampite would go near the stuff."

"We all have our ways, little Alex!" Josef said as he and Nick poked the head down with sticks until it was emmersed in the jellied-substance.

"OK, Beth!" Mick said after he, Alex, and Josef were well-away from the barrel. "Light it!"

"And, the head of Timon of Scandia burned in the barrel until all that was left were cremated bone chips and flaming napalm!

Next, Alex started cutting-open Timon's torso. After cutting away and removing the rib cage and breastbone, and depositing them in yet another barrel of napalm, she removed the heart, and skewered it to a silver bolt! Then, for good measure, she totally dismembered the body, with help from Nick and Josef.

Alex any removed the genitals with a knife, and tossed them in the napalm!"  
"Hold it, Alex?" Beth asked, fastinated by the operation. "Isn't this - well - overkill?  
Even for a vampire? I mean, from what everyone has said, he deserves it, but..?"

"Three, Beth?" Alex answered, counting off on her fingers, "Timon of Scandia DOES deserve this treatment! Alot like the Drawing and Quartering the British used to reserve for those they considered rebels and traitors. His victims deserve this vengence. Two? Cutting him up makes him easier to pack into the barrel. And, one? Even if someone is STUPID ENOUGH to TRY to bring him back to life? He won't be in any kind of shape to cause anyone nightmares or blood loss."

Soon, two barrels of napalm were lit, and waiting for someone to call the Fire Department.

As the quartet watched the fires burn, Alex turned to Josef:

"Josef? I need to ask something! And? Since your the oldest one here, you might be able to help me out! Is it, like, against the rules to take command of your Mater or Pater?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Josef answered, "although many vampires do frown upon the practice. Why do you ask, Alejandea?"

"Because I may have to take control of Amanda." Alex sighed as she stared at the burning barrels. "I looked into Timon's mind before I killed him. I had already guess mom was dead. Figured that as soon as Carlosi said Timon took mom as a present to Gherardini! But? I had to know why. So, I asked. And, Timon answered it was because mom was a descendent of the Montoyas! He also said I'd be meeting her, again. And? I could guess why. He'd use mommy against me, like he used Mandy against her family.

"And? Since Mandy still has family living? Dominique and Caitlynn? Gherardini would still love to use Amanda against her family! To kill them or turn them. Just to break her, again, for his own pleasure! He's that much of a monster! And, Tiomon was frightened of him! More frightened of him than me. That is.. until I took control of him!"

About 3:00am, Alex walked into the restaurant, silver-staked-heart in her grasp:

"Amanda Marie Aine O'Dubhda!" Alex anounced. "I bring you a gift! Can you not tell the heart of The Black Rat?"

Mandy, Caitlynn, and Dominique gathered around and stared at the quickly-muumifying-heart of Timon of Scandia.

"it is the Greek!" Mandy sniffed.

"All that remains of him!" Alex announced. "I figured that his victims should bare witness to his ulltimate destruction! Sammie and Clover are firing up a hibachi outside. Come."

Soon, all six girls were around the hibachi:

"For all he has helped to torture," Alex entoned, "For the hearts that have suffered, I consign the black heart of Timon of Scandia to the flames."  
The vampire spy just touched the skewered-heart to the flames, and it caught fire, and quickly turned to ash!

"May that be a taste of the Hell that awaits him!" Samantha swore!

"I just wish Gherardini was here to share his squire's fate!" Clover growled.

"Mick and I have kept WOOHP-HQ under surveillence." Alex said. "There's been activity, and a few vampires, but no Ludovico! His scent isn't even in any of the WOOPH-safehouses in southern California!"

"So?" Dominique asked. "Where is the Hell-Knight?"

"He's not on the mainland," Alex said, "but! The piers at Malibu have been reporting the same boat coming in at three hours after dusk for the past week, and going out to sea three hours before dawn. A small red sloop with red sails. And, under full-sail? It's about a two-  
hour boat-ride to WHOOP's Prison Island!"

"We may still be able to catch him!" Clover reacted. "We've got to go, Alex! We have to stop him!"

"WAITAMINUTE, girlfriend!" Alex stepped in front of the blonde. "We're not going anywhere!  
For two reasons! One, it's late! By the time we get to Malibu? Gherardini will have already left for the island! Two? Even though we know the island's layout? We don't know what how orLudovico's altered on it, and I don't want anyone exploring while he's awake and still able to hunt! Dominique? Caitlynn? Those orders go to you, too! As much as I hate to say this, we're saving our hunting until tonight."

"What do we do 'til this evening?" Samantha asked.

"Rest up until this afternoon!" Alex answered. "Sammie? Call the marina and rent out a boat for this afternoon, about 4pm! I think Mandy and I can prepare ourselves for getting up before the sun goes down? That should give us, at least, some twilight-time to explore the island, and try to avoid any - unpleasant - traps!"

Later that day - about 4:30pm - a crew of four was piloting a cabin-cruiser out of a marina in Long Beach. Two body-bags to down comfortably in the cabins. Along with bags of ice and packets of blood.

"What do we do when we get to the island, Captain Clover?" Dominique asked.

"You mean once we wake up the Admirals?" Clover responded. "We do like Alex said, we see how Ludovico may have booby-trapped the prison! Then we let Alex and Mady take the lead!"

"Okay, ladies!" Samantha announced pointing no a navigation-map, "Since WOOHP has censors off-shore of the Prison, we'll head northwest and drift into it with the currents and winds!"

Two hours later, Sammie cut the engines, allowing an eerie calm to befall the vessel. the only steady sound was the waves lapping against the hull.

"Okay, girls!" Sam announced quietly. "Here's where our sailing-skills come in for a test!  
Clover? Caitlynn? Dominique? You handles the sails! I'll be at the rudder!"

A little after an hour later, the cabin-cruiser was piloted into the island's cavern-like dockyard.

"Ut-oh!" Sammie let out a harsh whisper. "we've got trouble, Port-side! Do you girls see what I see?"

"A black sloop?" Clover meeped and trembled. "But.. that would mean..?"

"The Red Knight hasn't left, yet?" Dominique finished Clover's question.

"Or, never plannedto leave, tonight!" Caitlynn swore.

"Whichever?" Sammie hissed. "We better tell Alex and Mandy!"

"Oh, I am - quite sure - that the fledgelings-in-question with be able to find you,  
a cultured-voice said on the dock ahead of them. "But, by the time they do, I'm afraid it will be too late.. for the lot of you! You see, I place a sleep-spell at the mouth of the harbor, just in case any uninvited vampires came by!"

"LUDOVICO!"

An hour later, and 15 minutes after sundown, a slight stinging sensation against her cheek woke up Alejandrea.

"Wha..? What's.. going on? My head hunts. Sammie? Clover? CAITLYNN? DOMINIQUE? AMANDA? Where is..?" Alex tried to jump to her feet, but was uncoordinated. "Who's here?"

"Hold it, muchacha!" The soft voice of Manolito Montoya met the young vampire's ear.  
"Sand still. You need blood. Your mortal companions are not here, and you Mater needs to be awakened."

"Ma-NO-lo! What.. are.. you doing here?" Alex stammered.

"Hush hush!" Manolito softly cooed, handing his descendant a packet of blood. "As for why we are here? We followed you here! You forget, muchacha, you are a vampire, now, but you were - and, always will be - Montoya y Cannon y Vega! We sensed your distress.. and followed you, here!"

"Where are my friends?" Alex asked her ancestor. "Besides Mandy?"

"We're not sure, Miss Alex!" Billy Blue said apologetically. "But, from the noise they made, we think Gherardini took'em."

"Ghe..rardini? The Red Knight?" Mandy asked, fearfully.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm afraid so." Buck answered handing her some blood. "But, don' you worry!  
Ye got cannon-men, Montoyas, Apaches, an' de la Vega lookin' for 'em! When one knows, every-  
body'll know, an'll tell you an' Alexandra where to find'em!"

"Two of the girls have been found." Big John Cannon appeared on the dock. "The descriptions match those of Domininique and Caitlynn, Ms. O'Dowde! They seem to be with someone with a ghost-like face, who has been staying silent. They are being watched by a friend. Cochise. So, we'll know whatever happens .We're still looking for Samantha and Clover, Alejandrea! And? You MIGHT want to know, Carmen has been seen around here. But? She's not who she USED to be."

"I know, Papa John. I know." Alex whispered. "The vampire who kidnapped her told me. Right before I beheaded him."

"Will you be alright, Alejandrea?" Manolito asked his descendant.

"Not until Gherardini is dead, Papa Mano." Alex replied. "And, probably, not after then, either."

"Where are Caitlynn and Dominique?" Mandy suddenly jumped up, still a bit whoosy even after the blood-packet. "Where are my babies, dammit?"

"MANDY!" Alex spun around! "Where are you going?"

"T' get Caitlynn an' Dominique! I need na help, Alex de la Vega! I c'n track'em m'self!  
N' tellin' HOW that devil will use them! I'M COMIN'!"

"But, Amanda..!" Alex called out to a vanished Mandy. "Madre de dios!" She hissed. "I had a feeling this would happen! "This island always seemed to be Ludovico's turf! He may haveboobie-trapped this whold damned place. Where were Dominique and Caitlynn seen, Papa-  
John?"

"Southwest corner of the prison, lowest level!" Big John said. "Be careful, Alexandra!"

"Do not worry, Papa John!" Alex whispered and she gathered her weapons. "I'll be careful."

Soon, Alexandra de la Vega y Montoya have vanished into the shadows, following Mandy's scent.

In about three minutes, Alex stopped at where Mandy had seemed to stop, earlier. "Seemed to" as the irish vampire's scent seemed to strangely merge, and fade in, with the scents of several odd herbs!

"Okay, Alejandea," she muttered to herself. "You claimed to be a huntress, as well as a spy and detective! Time to put allthose skill to use."

Alex, who had - somehow - stayed call during the tracking, now closed her eyes - and meditated, growing even calmer! She then listened.. and sniffed:

"Mandy was tracking the girls. I can smell Caitlynn and Dominique, as well as Sam and Clover. And? I can smell one vampire with them! Just one. Probably Ludovico."

Alex trailed the scents.. including the heavily-masked scent of Mandy.. to where they seemed to melt into the walls of the prison!

"Okay!" Alex sighed. " We're between cells, so these walls should be solid! But? The problem with that is the only phantom we're chasing is Gherardini - and Mandy, of course - so? The should be a door in this wall. And, probably, a tunnel. Therefor? I need a sword."

In an hour, Alex had found and opened a secret door to a small tunnel.

'About as big as the tunnls we read about in Vietnam.' The spy thought. 'Can't see that much, eveen with vampiric-sight! Damn! Guess I'll still have to use my nose.'

A few dozen yards later, Alex started hearing a song, faint a first, punctuated by screams.

The song and screams came from side-tunnels that led to stairs that went down to..?

"Well Well!" Alex said. "A part of the prison we were never given a toure of! Probably,  
Ludovico's rec-room?"

Soon, the young vampire was down at the bottom of the stairs, and working a lock that reminded her of a Chinese-puzzle!

'Poor choice on your part, Ludovico!' Alex chuckled to herself, inspite of the hauntingly-  
sad songs and the screams. "Sam may have made the better-grades? But I am the best when it comes to puzzles!"

Soon, Alex was throughthe puzzle-lock and heavy oak door. Unfortunately, this also meant the song and screams were louder! And, it was not one voice screaming but three - Caitlynn, Dominique, and Amanda. And, acting as a soft counterpoint to the screams, was the song:

LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnak e-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-

Oh aimez-moi plaisante br ne

Oh aimez-moi, Oh aimez-moi

Vous aimerez le fils d un prince

Le fils d un roi, le fils d un roi

Que voulez-vous que je vous aime

J ai mon mari, J ai mon mari

J ai mon mari qui est dans les vignes

Qui le saura, Qui le saura

Allons au bois charmante br ne

Allons au bois, Allons au bois

Nous trouverons la serpent verte

Nous la prendrons, Nous la prendrons

Dans un mouchoir de mousseline

Nous la plierons, Nous la plierons

Dans une pinte de vin rouge

Nous la mettrons, Nous la mettrons

Quand votre mari viendra des vignes

Grand soif aura, Grand soif aura

Quand votre mari viendra des vignes

Il en boira, Il en mourra

Oh dis-moi donc plaisante br ne

Tire-moi du vin, Tire-moi du vin

Il y en a dedans la pinte

Du tout tir , Du tout tir

Le p tit enfant jamais ne parle

A bien parl , A bien parl

Ne buvez pas de a mon p re

Vous en mourrez, Vous en mourrez

Vous en boirez charmante br ne

Vous en boirez, Vous en boirez

A ta sant plaisante br ne

Du temps pass , Du temps pass

Tout en versant dessur ses l vres

Elle tr passait, Elle tr passait

Tout en buvant dedans sa gorge

Son c ur mourrait, Son c ur mourrait

Maudit maudit le fils d un prince

Le fils d un roi, Le fils d un roi

Il m a fait faire un breuvage

C'est bien pour moi, C'est bien pour moi

LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnak e-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-

Alex moved down the hall as swiftly as she could thoroughly search the hall:  
Halfway-down, she heard the banshee-wail of Amanda O'dubhda, dying-away now and then to be replaced by maniacal-laughter.

Alex thought the combination was quite disturbing.

Alex crept up to the disturbed woman, and peered into her mind, though - she decided - not to look to closely.

She needn't have worried.

The flashes in Mandy's mind - light a strobe-light hitting an IMAX-screen - showed Gherardini's plan, perefectly: Caitlynn and Dominique were being tortured,  
scared to death by their own fears, and the only way Gerardini left for them to be "rescued" was for Amanda to kill them - or turn them - as Gerardini had used Mandy,  
before!

What still beat of Alex' heart went out to Mandy even more!

"Amanda Marie Aine O'Dubhda! Listen to me!" Alex' soft voice entered into Mandy's mind. "Gerardini will not win! I will not let him! But! You must listen to me."

"YE MUST HELP, DE LA VEGA!" Amanda screamed as she grabbed at Alex's throat.  
"The Devil's killin' me kin, as he swore he would. My kin, my blood, the last of the O'DUBHDA! An' he's doin' it, because I canna. I've ALREADY BEEN THE BANSHEE OF THE O'DUBHDA! An'? Once more would shatter me. An'? The Devil knows it!"

"That it why I command ye stay here, O'Dubhda."

Alex knealt down in front of the hesterical woman, in front of her Mater, eyes glowing a fiery yellow:

"I do not wish to buck authority like this, Mater," Alex intoned, "but, for the sake of the family? Thereis no other way. I now pronounce sentence."

Alex leaned down, and bit and sucked in and out of Mandy's shoulder:

Mandy slowlt calmed down as in a trance.

"Stay calm, Amanda O'Dubhda. Stay here. I shall bring your family here.

"Yes.. Mistress.." Mandy whispered.

Then, Alex followed the song.

LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnak e-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-

Oh aimez-moi plaisante br ne

Oh aimez-moi, Oh aimez-moi

Vous aimerez le fils d un prince

Le fils d un roi, le fils d un roi

Que voulez-vous que je vous aime

J ai mon mari, J ai mon mari

J ai mon mari qui est dans les vignes

Qui le saura, Qui le saura

Allons au bois charmante br ne

Allons au bois, Allons au bois

Nous trouverons la serpent verte

Nous la prendrons, Nous la prendrons

Dans un mouchoir de mousseline

Nous la plierons, Nous la plierons

Dans une pinte de vin rouge

Nous la mettrons, Nous la mettrons

Quand votre mari viendra des vignes

Grand soif aura, Grand soif aura

Quand votre mari viendra des vignes

Il en boira, Il en mourra

Oh dis-moi donc plaisante br ne

Tire-moi du vin, Tire-moi du vin

Il y en a dedans la pinte

Du tout tir , Du tout tir

Le p tit enfant jamais ne parle

A bien parl , A bien parl

Ne buvez pas de a mon p re

Vous en mourrez, Vous en mourrez

Vous en boirez charmante br ne

Vous en boirez, Vous en boirez

A ta sant plaisante br ne

Du temps pass , Du temps pass

Tout en versant dessur ses l vres

Elle tr passait, Elle tr passait

Tout en buvant dedans sa gorge

Son c ur mourrait, Son c ur mourrait

Maudit maudit le fils d un prince

Le fils d un roi, Le fils d un roi

Il m a fait faire un breuvage

C'est bien pour moi, C'est bien pour moi

LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnak e-LeSerpentVerte-GreenSnake-

Soon, she found the cell, and the wells - one filled with snakes, the other rats -  
and the singer, the mime known as "Jazz-Hands".

"Oh, dear GOD!" Alex reacted. 'Le Serpent Verte'! The Green Snake! Jazz-Hands is SCARING Caitlynn to death! And? Her screams of terror are agitating the rats! And, helping to scare Dominique to death!" She sped to the mime-turned-musician!

Alex reached the young mime as he was about the sing, again:

"Jazz-Hands! Non." Alex stared with eyes of gold into the frightened eyes of the mime.  
"You must stop this insanity!"

"Oh aimez-moi plaisante br ne.. Oh aimez-moi, Oh aimez-moi..  
Vous aimerez le fils d un prince.. Le fils d un roi, le fils d un roi.."

"Jazz-Hands.." Alex demanded with more force. "STOP THIS MURDER!"

The Mime's eyes, though staring blankly, told Alex what his lips could not:

'Kill me now, mon chere petit. Set me free. I beg you!'

"Que voulez-vous que je vous aime.. J ai mon mari, J ai mon mari.."

With a feral scream only matched by Mandy in her grief, Alex withdrew her swords,  
and beheaded the man, forever silencing his song!

'Merci, mon petite.' Jazz Hands' words seemed to whisper in her mind.

She then turned glowing eyes onto the hysterical young girls in the pits, grabbed a wrist from each prisoner.. and bit, sucking and hungrily licking up the blood!

Then, she turned her eyes to the panicking girls:

"Caitlynn! Dominique! Calm down! You are in my control - and, no longer in danger."

"But, the snakes.. the.. snakes.." Caitlynn started to hyperventillate in the dark.  
"I.. I.."

"The rats! Biting me!" Dominique screamed and cried. "They are KILLING me! Eating me.."

"Calm DOWN!" Alex commanded. "CAITLYNN! You FEEL the snakes, yes. But? They do not squeeze you to death! Not on purpose. They just wish to share your warmth. They only squeeze and bite because your thrashing around in a confined space crushes them! If you calm down, they will calm down!

"DOMINIQUE! I smell no blood on you, just sweat. You are nervous. The heart races. Your temperature raises. You sweat. the rats are just licking and nibbling at the salt. Calm down, child!The rats are not your enemies, wishing your death. Calm down, then give me your hands.  
The both of you."

An hour after Alex walked in on the ordeal, she pulled the frightened girls out of the pits.

"Come!" Alex command. "Follow my voice, it is as dark as the as the grave, down here! Even the window- slits up by the ceiling do not offer much light! I will guide you to Mandy.  
Come."

"Is.. she alright?" Caitlynn asked.

"She is." Alex said. "But, only because I had to take control of her! The Savoiarde-  
Diablique did his work well." Soon, they were at Mandy's cell. And, Alex slowly crouched down:

"Amanda? Awaken! Your little ones are here!"

Mandy then started to breathe and move. She then turned around to Alexandra:

"My.. bairns? Caitlynn? Dominique? They are..? Are they..?"

"We are well, Amanda-mama!" Caitlynn answered. "Thanks be t' Alex Dhu! She stopped that cursed-song!"

"Girls? Stay here!" Alex commanded. "Watch over Mandy until she is steady enough to walk. Then, follw her out of these tunnels! Mandy? Lead them back to the boat, and wait for me, there!  
I'm going to retrieve your sisters.. and send Gerardini straight to hell!"

Soon, Alex was trailing Sam and Clover, again, and the scent of - she was positive -  
Ludovico Gerardini. She also had a stange feeling of being followed. And? Her tracker seemed to know her moves.. too well! And, whoever it was, whatever it was, it knrw enough about tracking to stay just far enough away for Alex to not clearly register a scent! In fact? Other than the feeling of being tracked, Alex had nothing to prove she WAS being tracked!

'Whoever they are,' Alex grinned to herself, 'they are good! I may play with them, later! But? Right now? I have to get Sammie and Clover back!'

'Daughter of Montoya!' Alex heard a voice clearly in her head. 'Stop!'

'Yes.' Alex turned around slowly andreverently. Even in the dark, she could see him, as well as feel his presence. 'What should I be weary of, K'uu-ch'ish?'

'The one who hunts you is your mother, under the command of Luu-do-vee-koh.' Cochise' voice was soft in Alex's mind. 'Do not use the knives of Montoya or of Vega on her! Use the spear of the Ch'uuk'nde! That way, her spirit will know peace! Only then, you may use the knife of Montoya'.

'Thank you, tan'den!' Alex bowed, smiled, turned, and resumed the hunt.

Even though the tunnels were long and dark, withmany intersecting turns, Alec never lost her sence of directing, and grinned as she gotcloser to her goal:

"Soon, old one!" Alex whispered. "Your head shall be cut off and burned!"

A few minutes later, Alex found herself in a rather large chamber, lit - somewhat - by half-a-dozen torches! Toward far end of the chamber, running lengthwise, was what appeared to be a large stone sarcophagus of marble or alabaster, she couldn't tell which, and at each far corner of sarcophagus stood Sam and clover, naked except for a sheer gauze drapped around them.

And,at the far-end of the chamber, on a black throne, sat Ludovico Gerardini, aka "Jarry Lewis"!

Ludovico clapped slowly:

"Bravo, Alejandrea de la Vega ... y MONTOYA! Welcome to my bridal-vhamber! I am SO glad you made it this far! Also? a bit surprised! I was expecting the labyrinth to have kept you lost for at least a day and half! I AM disappointed, however.. that you DARED to disturb my entertainment with Amanda O'Dubhda."

"My pleasure!" Alex chirped. Then, she sniffed. Sam and Clover were not vampires, although they were traumatized.

"Your Bridal Chamber, huh?" She asked Ludovico.

"Yes!" He responded. "My bride and I shall feast," he pointed his walking-stick to Sam and Clover, "And then setisfy my .. OTHER hunger! This is? AFTER she performed a small task for me!"

Alex suddenly felt a revulsion in the pit of her stomache.

"Who's the unlucky woman, Ludovic?" She asked.

"I am SO glad you asked, Alejandrea!" Alex could see the smile of the Savoiarde Diablique.  
"Carman? Do your lord's bidding! SLAY THIS LOW-BORNE WORM!"

"Yes.. my lord." Carmen Montoya y Cannon replied in a leaden-tone. "It shall.. be done."

Alex turned around, slowly, never looking directly into the vampiric-eyes of her mother:

"I was told this would happen," Alex said evenly. "And, has happened."

Slowly, almost haltingly, Carmen withdrew a sword from it's scabbard:

"Die.. my daughter."

Carmen swung a decapitating-blow to where Alex was..

But? Alex had moved.

"I am no longer then, Mommie..", Alex whispered. "I am.. elsewhere.."

Carmen turned 180 degrees, her sword outstretched.

And? Alex had - once again - vanished, just out of sight of her attacker!

"I'm right next to you, Mommie!" Alex giggled in her best little-girlish voice. "I'll always be with you! Just like you'll always be with me! Just like we promised each other."

Alex then quickly moved, out of the range ofthe swinging sword!

"CARMEN!" Ludovico roared. "DO NOT LISTEN TO HER! LISTEN TO ME!"

"Silly old man..", Alex giggled innocently.. then, purred seductively, "if Mommie can't listen to me, how will she find me?"

Carmen hesitated, then loosened her grip on the sword, letting it fall slightly.

Alex withdrew the spear looped against her back.

"I am in back of you, Carmen Montoya y Cannon." Alex breathed out, eyes smoldering anember-orange. "Turn and face me."

Carman, under the control of Alex' hypnotic-voice, slowly turned, to get caught in a pair ofeyes that burned like the sun!

"RAISE YOUR WEAPON, CARMEN!" Ludovico screamed. "KILL HER!"

"Do as he says, mom." Alex cooed. "For now."

Carmen raised her sword, and swung, again and again, as a great oaken shaft deflected each blow!

"Carman - mom - remember - who you are." Alex spoke in an even, hypnotic tone between blow and counter-blow. "Remember - who you were. Before you - became a vampire - before you -  
became a mother - before California. You were - a child of - the desert - the mountains. Remember - as I grew - how you would - take me back - to the Chaparral - to home."

The world outside seemed to slow as Alex and Carmen circled each other, swordtip to spear, eyes locked on eyes.

"let us - go home - again - Mommie - your people - are waitng."

"Do not LISTEN to her, my Carmen!" Ludovico ranted. "I am your world, now! I am your lord! I am..!"

"Distant thunder is all itis, Mom!" Alex seductively cooed. "It grows more distant with each breath! Come. Let's go home."

"Alex?" Carmen softly asked with pleading eyes and panting breath. "Take me home? Please?"

The sword dropped to the floor.

"I will." Alex smiled. She then plunged the spear into and through Carmen's heart,  
paralyzing her!

And, as Carmen Montoya y Cannon sank to the floor of the cave, Alex withdrew the Sword of Montoya. Then, she staked Carman to the floor of the cave, and stepped to Carman's side:

"Now, mommie.. let our families welcome you back HOME!"

Alex then arched the Sword of Montoya, quickly and neatly severing carman's head from her body!

'Thank you.. my Alejandrea.." Carmen's voice floated through Alex mind with a kiss.  
'I'm going home.'

"Good-bye, Mommie." Alex whispered through her tears. "Be well."

Shethen, got up quickly, and spun to face her opponent:

"Gerardini! Savoiarde Diablique!" Alex held both the Swords of Montoya and of Vega in her hands. " Your time is UP!"

"Ah! But, I do not think so, Alexandra!" Ludovico called back, his hands tightly around the necks of Samantha and Clover! "As you see? I still have chips to play! Take one more step towards me? And I shall snap their spines! Or? Mayhap, I shall make a light-snack of them both.. and send them after you, another time!"

Alex lowered her swords slightly, and smirked. "Oh! But, you are a wicked one, Ludovico! But? Alas, none-too-bright! Girls! Samantha? Clover? DIE!"

Sam and Clover seemed to open there eyes and come to life at Alex's voice, for a second!  
Then:

"Yes, Mistress." Samantha murmered.

"As you wish, Mater." Clover muttered.

Then - both spies fell to the floor, dead, their bodies limp.

"Oh, dear." Ludovico said. "You've killed your friends. You TOLD them to die! And, they DIED! You, my dear Alex, are as ruthless, as cold-blooded, as ME! We could have SO much fun, together!"

"Dream on, Ludovico." Alex answered borely. "I just figured that dying at my command was more-merciful than being ghouls at yours!"

Ludovico chuckled meliciously. "It does not matter, you stupid fledgeling, why you did what you did, just as it matters not WHAT you did! True, you robbed me of a fine meal,  
but? In the great scheme of things, it matters not! You see? You are doomed. When you die?  
Sam and Clover will remain dead! Doomed. Just like ALL Montoyas are doomed! Just like the families of ALL who oppose me are doomed."

Ludovico chuckled.

And - Alex' eyes turned blood-red.

The old vampire continued:

"Yes. I just let my ally, time, do my work for me! My enemies grow thin and frail, and the spirit in their families loses their fire. So? When the time is right? I return to pick their prescious buds like a blight! I SCURGE the tree, leaving it to whither! Yes. So delightful, don't you think?"

Alex' eyes new glowed ember-orange, with flecks of yellow:

"I am sure, a few devils see it that way!" She whispered seductively.

Her whisper then dropped to a bare breath, that Ludovico had to strain to hear:

"But? Mom did not care for playing with people that way.. and.."

Than Alex screamed, shattering the old demon's cencentration:

"And.. NEITHER DO I!"

His concemtration broken for the first timee in centuries, Ludovico Gerardini panicked,  
and look up into two of the hottest-yellow eyes he had ever seen! Flecked with white, it was almost impossible to see the corneas, and - therefor- to reach into Alex' soul. He hesitated,  
and almost did not notice the drawn, and crossed, Swords of Vega and Montoya. Her did, however,  
grab his own sword, and lunged at Alex!

Alex, then, became a will-o'-the-wisp! She was always there, swords crossed for battle. But? She was never close enough for the aged vampire to connect with! Then, she would move in, forcing him to yield territory- physical, mental, and spiritual!

And, also, her burning eyes stay locked on his: Ludovico was a prisoner of the Montoyas!

Finally, after reversing positions, Alex had the Savoiarde Diablique stumbling against his own sarcophagus!

"How .. can you .. best me so?" He cried in a whimper. "You are .. but a fledgeling!?"

"When I learn..", Alex breathed out. "I learn.."

The Swords of Vega and Montoya flashed, removing Ludovico's head and tossing it to his throne as his body fell backwars into the sacrophagus.

"FROM THE BEST!"

Alex sheaved her swords, whispered a prayer, and cleared her mind. Then, she bent over the still bodies of Samantha and Clover.

"Sammie? Clover?" Alex whispered tenderly. "Time to wake up! Nap-time's over!"

In response to Alex, a mist seemed to enter the mouthes and nostrils of Samantha and Clover. A couple of seconds later, the girls were breathing and their color was returning, and - soon - they were moving!

"Uhn.. where am I?" Sammie moamed as she opened her eyes. "Wait a minute! I remember.. I remember.." She reflexively put her her hand to her neck:

"No bite-marks? Thank God!" Then, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. "A.. A.. Alex?"

"I'm here, Sammie!" Alex answered. "You're safe. Ludovico's gone."

"Are.. you sure?" Samantha hesitated.

"I'm here. He's gone." Alex reassured the redhead. "And? As soon as we torch his remains? All he'll be is a bad memory."

"Where are his remains?" Sam asked.

"Body's in the sarcophagus." Alex answered. "Head's on the.."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII !" Clover screamed.

"Throne." Alex said.

"What is THAT piece of SHIT doing here?!" Clover asked, near hysterics.

"Sorry, Clover!" Alex tried not to laugh as she apologized. "It landed on the throne."

"Wrong throne." Sam and Clover growled.

This time, Alex allowed herself a giggle.

"ALEX!" Clover jumped. "Where are Caitlynn and Dominique? We were together when Ludovico caught us!"

"I know." Alex allowed them to see a smile. Don't worry. They're back on the boat, looking after Mandy! My orders."

"'Orders'?" Clover meeped. "You mean..?"

"And heaven help them if they ever disobey them." Alex said with as straight a face as she could wear.

And Saam and Clover smiled.

"C'mon, girls!" Alex said. "Finds something to bag Ludovico's head in, and let's get back to the boat and make plans to roast his body."

"Sure thing, Alex! You're the boss!" Clover said, wrapping the hated head in the material he had her wear.

Suddenly, Sam saw another headless body:

"Oh, my God! Alex! Isn't that..?"

"Yes." Alex knelt and spoke low as a tear slid from her eye. "Sammie? Would you mind carrying Mom's head? I.. know.. her spirit's no longer here, but.. I can't stand the thought of her body being left here! We'll find a descent place to cremate her." She gently picked up her mother's headless corpse. "Stay close to me. I'll guide us back to the boat."

Soon, everyone was back on the boat.

"So? Ye made it back, my Alex Dhu!" Mandy smiled. "And, yemade it back wi' yuir Sam and Clover, I see! So? Do we leave, yet?"

"I wish we could! That would put us back on the mainland before sunrise!" Alex answered. "But? I don't want toleave here without roasting Ludovico's remains! They had guns here for the guards, and SOME C-4 charges, but? We need something with a bit more burning-power! What we REALLY need is some more of Jacob's napalm! Anybody brought their cell-phone with them?"

A phonecall and five hours later, and two hours left to sunrise, two boats were floating a half-mile offshore ofthe WOOHP prison-island.

"Thanks for helping us pack everything in the chambers, Mick!" Samantha shouted over the winds that were picking up.

"No problem!" Mick responded. "Just glad Jacob had enough napalm to spare! And, some C-4!"

"And, I'm glad it's going to a good use!" Jacob responded. "Last thing the vampiric-  
community needs is a Ludovico Gerardini running around!"

"Amen t' that!" Mandy said.

"Shall we set the fireworks off?" Beth asked.

"Push the button, Beth!" Samantha shouted.

An initial "BOOM!" was heard, with several after-explosions following, along with flashes of fire come first from the lowest floors, then funneling up to the roof!

"Well? That's done!" Alex announced. "All that's left is torching the head. And cremating Mommie. We'll deal with the memories and nightmares as they come."

"We'll give Carmen a proper send-off, Alex, dinna worry! The eastern sky is lightening! Come. Beth? Caitlynn? Let's g' home!"

EPILOGUE-EPILOGUE-EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE-EPILOGUE-EPILOGUE

The years pass into decades, decades into centuries.

Mortals come and mortals go. Family-members come and go. The vampire stays to see, and record, all.

But, even death can visit a vampire. It's a rare visit, but it happens. Usually, at the vampire's choosing.

Life can get lonesome, at times.

Welcome to Anno Domini, 2195.

To many people, cemeteries are scary places! But, vampires just find them.. lonely.

"I can understand why Dominique chose this stop!" Alex smiled. "So peaceful and green."

"Aye." Mandy agreed, sipping from a packet of blood. "What surprises me, still, is how well Clover took to the idea of herself restin' here! Away frae te madening crowd, an' all."

"C'mon, Mandy," Alex giggled, "Clover was NEVER really that much of an extravert!"

"Aye! She fooled me!" Mandy grined, "Fer a while, anyway."

"Nah!" Clover looked down and smiled at Clover's stone. "All she needed was the right people to be around."

Mandy softly took hold of Alex' hand:

"Tis true of us all, m' darlin' Dhu!"

"Yeah.." Alex smiled as she and Mandy took a few more steps to visit Dominique and Caitlynn. "Sammie may have been that bad, however!" She giggled.

"May have been?" Clover chuckled.

"Hey!" Samantha pouted. "I was never that bad!" Then, she asked in a petulent voice.  
"Was I?"

"Well..", Alex grinned, "There WAS the time in New Orleans. But..."

"Everyone's STILL holding that against me?" Samantha wailed.

"As I remember, Sammie-girl," Mandy smiled, "ye prety-well laid CLAIM to it in life..  
anytime th' subject was brough up!"

"Well.." A ghostly blush could be seen as San kicked her legs in the air, "Everybody else seemed to bring up their part in it.. Dominique.. and Caitlynn..."

"Yeah.. nut you always haf the wickedest o' smiled when ye talked of it, Samantha!"  
Caitlynn responded as Dominique giggled.

"Okay, what you four all doing out at once?" Alex asked the four giggling ghosts. "Don't get me wrong, I love the reunion, but this is.."

"More than wee strange?" Mandy finished Alex' thought.

"You said it." Alex replied.

"Well..", Samantha said coyly. "We've got some news.. that we all wanted to share with you two."

"What news?" Alex and Mandy both perked up.

"It's, like, the best news ever!" Clover replied.

"WHAT?!" The two vampires hissed out, fidgeting.

"Oh! Tell them, already!" Dominique said."

"Oh.. okay.." Sam pouted in mock-dejection, then lit up with a smile almost as bright as the dawn: "It's official: Penance is over for you two!"

And, two vampires stood as still as statues!

"You.. mean.. we can go home!" Alex slowly asked.

"But?" Mandy started to doubt and panic. "What about what I've done? All the bluid I've shed? All of it I've tasted? How can I be clean enough for..?"

"Amanda Muire! Mater!" Caitlynn answered. "Nae one ever blamed you! Sure, an' none of the O'Dubhda hold ye ta blame. Aye, they knew that something was wrong, with ye crying o' the ban sidhe before you bit! But? Everything was explained at the other side o' the alter! How, we canna help what's commanded of us. How we all have our parts t' play. An' ye did serve yuir penance - ye helped t' shepherd more souls than ye ever took! An', wi' help? Ye showed us the direction t' go. So? Dinna be Hesitatin', Amanda! Come on home!"

"But? What about..?" Alex started to tear.

"Alex?" Clover said as she looked into vampiric eyes. "You've watched over mine and Sammie's children and grandchildren. And, their grandchildren. And.. THEIR grandchildren!" She smiled and giggled. "Mater? That's 190 years of babysitting! And, with Stella and Gabbie passed-  
on? Everybody's so spread out.. that loneliness set's in real easily. So? Why not come up? Rejoin the family?"

"'Family'!" Alex closed her eyes and breathed in the word hypnotically. Then she opened her eyes agiag, suddenly worried. "But.. but.. what about..?"

"Do not worry about me, my daughter." Carmen appeared. "I am alright! I have been home! Thanks to you! You saved me, before I could do anything that I would have regretted. I have even been wandering the mountains and tne hills that Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and the Chiricahua knew. As God planted it. Beautiful."

"MOMMIE!" Tears streamed from Alex's eyes.

"We will be waiting for you. All of us."

Five ghosts smiled and bowed, then faded from view.

"You won't have to wait long." Alex and Mandy promised.

A few hours later, two vampires sat at the eastern edge of the cemetery, not far from their friends, waiting for the sunrise.

"I canna BELIEVE it!" Mandy said giggily, "I'm goin' to see m' family, again! Och, m' Alex Dhu! I'd love for ye t'meet them!"

"And, I'd love to meet then, Mandy!" Alex smiled as the sun started to rise.

"Och! And, here it comes!" Mandy breathed in. I guess I'm willin' t' take a wee bit o' sufferin' to be seein' m' kin, again,"

"It'll be alright, Amanda!" Alex said softly, "The sun won't hurt, that much."

With that said, the two friends slowly closed their eyes and slowly stopped breathing.  
And, in ten minutes, their bodies began to smother. Stangely, however, the bodies never burst into flames! They just dried out and turned to ash and they dust. And, in an hour, all that was left were two females skeletons! Soon, as if they were made of mud - or, were a complete mirage - the bones fell apart, melting into the hillside. Soon, and very soon, there was nothing left to suggest the anything was there beside the cemetery!

But? If anyone alive were around to listen, they would have have a whisper - a musical laughter and a lilt - on the breeze, for just a moment:

"Yuir right, m' Alex Dhu. It dinna hurt at all!"

Fini.


End file.
